Time flies, and things are not people. Eight years have passed, all kinds of people have come and gone, but Cangyang Mansion is still as Xu Huaigu saw many years ago, with a mighty vermilion lacquer red door, two stone lions with teeth and claws, and a huge plaque

The words "Cangyang Mansion", several guards with swords at their waists stood at the door, majestic. Xu Huaigu and Li Zi walked to the gate of the mansion, first stopped and watched, and then walked towards the gate of the mansion, and were stopped by one of the guards.

Xu Huaigu was prepared, he smiled and took out a letter from his cuff and handed it to the person who stopped him, and by the way, he put a small silver ingot in the palm of his hand, and quietly handed it over.

He leaned close to the guard's ear and whispered, "Please bring this letter to Princess Cangyang, and say that a person named Xu Huaigu asks to see her." The guard glanced at him meaningfully, took the envelope in his hand, and Xu Huaigu took the opportunity to stuff the silver into his hand.

The man immediately understood, took the envelope with a smile, and said, "It turned out to be Mr. Xu." Don't you know, there are a lot of people looking for the princess recently, the princess has given an order, and the idle people are gone, you make me a little embarrassed. Xu Huaigu smiled, took out a small gold coin from his cuff, still secretly handed it over, and said, "How can I be regarded as an idle person?" The princess and I are good friends, and I would like to ask the princess to make it easier, as long as the princess hears my name, she will naturally want to see me, and will never embarrass the adults. The guard happily accepted Xu Huaigu's gold bill, nodded unhurriedly, and said, "I believe that I will help you bring it, but as for whether the princess will see you or not, I will say otherwise." ”

"Okay, then I'll be tired of you." Xu Huaigu retreated, pulled Li Zi to the shade of the tree by the door of the mansion, found a clean place to sit down, and waited for a reply.

Li Zi tilted his head to look at him, and said with a smile: "You are quite familiar with these things, you usually don't do less, right?" Xu Huaigu also smiled: "In today's world, human feelings are like this, since you are in the world, it is inevitable that you will not encounter it." This kind of Houmen Mansion is not like a rich merchant, there is a very strict hierarchy in it, there are a hundred reasons to leave your letter, if you don't have enough money, then the guard will turn around and say that the princess is gone, and send you away, and you have nothing to do. Li Zi said: "I thought that with your temperament, you would be reluctant to do these things." ”

"I'm a bit tough, but there's no need to drill where I can't do it. Besides, I came to find Lin Cangyang, so it's important to do business. The two chatted in the shade of the tree for a while, and the guard hurriedly walked out of the corner gate, and then another person who looked like a maid opened the vermilion lacquer gate of Cangyang Mansion, looked around, found Xu Huaigu, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and said: "It turned out that Mr. Xu was free to visit, I haven't seen you for a long time, the princess misses it very much, and please come in." "The appearance of this maid is also familiar, it was she who helped Lin Cangyang send a letter to Xu Huaigu, Xu Huaigu remembered that her name seemed to be Ling'er.

Xu Huaigu politely returned the salute and said with a smile: "Miss Ling'er, I haven't seen you for a long time, is the princess okay lately?" Ling'er smiled and said, "Mr. Xu's blessing, everything is fine." When the princess heard that you were coming, she was afraid that the rude manners of those guards would not be careful, so she specially asked me to greet you. It's windy outside, so please come in. Xu Huaigu nodded and gave Li Zi a look, and Li Zi also stood up and followed Xu Huaigu's steps.

Ling'er glanced at Li Zi curiously a few more times and asked, "Who is this?" Xu Huaigu hurriedly explained: "This is my friend, and the princess has seen it before. Ling'er nodded to indicate that she understood, stood at the door and made a gesture of false invitation, Xu Huaigu and Li Zi stepped into the door of the mansion first, she followed and closed the door, and then walked to the front of the two to lead the way.

Li Zi whispered in Xu Huaigu's ear: "This Lin Cangyang seems to still value you very much." Xu Huaigu couldn't help but smile a little proudly: "I did her a great favor at the beginning, that's why she treated me like this." The two followed in Ling'er's footsteps and soon entered the depths of the mansion.

There is a large main house in the garden, and a stream leads from the living water of the Changyang River into the garden around the main house.

Surrounded by mountains and rivers, and colorful grass, this is Lin Cangyang's usual residence. Ling'er walked to the door, knocked lightly, and said to the door, "Princess, Mr. Xu has arrived." ”

"Invite him in." Ling'er opened the door and stretched out her hand to invite Xu Huaigu and Li Zi to go in first. As soon as Xu Huaigu stepped on the threshold, he smelled a gentle aroma, which was the spice smoked in the incense burner.

There are not many furnishings in this main house, but they are all high-quality products, such as the paintings hanging on the wall, the delicate porcelain on the wall, and even the inkstone on the table is a rare piece used by the predecessors, which is extremely luxurious, which is the appearance of the boudoir of the princess of Dayu Kingdom.

It stands to reason that the princess's mansion has its own living room, and guests are not allowed to enter the princess's embroidery pavilion, but Xu Huaigu is an exception, anyway, he has already come secretly for the first time, so he is not restrained.

Besides, Lin Cangyang wanted to make this meeting more low-key, so the fewer people saw it, the better. Xu Huaigu and Li Zi walked inside, lifted the bead curtain, and saw Lin Cangyang sitting at a sandalwood table.

She said with a smile on her face: "Xu Huaigu, long time no see." I remember that it has been many years since you left Xingqing City, why did you suddenly remember to come to me? Also, who is this? Xu Huaigu hurriedly said: "This is Li Zi, princess, I'm afraid you don't remember." When you took Sun Xiang into the palace under the plane tree, the three of us played together on Xingqing Street! Lin Cangyang seemed to suddenly remember, looked at Li Zi twice, and said with a smile: "It turned out to be her!" It looks like it's changed so much that I almost don't recognize it! In this way, this is also an old friend. It's a rare occasion to have two old friends come to see me today, and I'm so happy. Ling'er, make tea for the guests, make a red square sparrow, and use the jar on my bookcase to age the rainwater. Ling'er was ordered to make tea, Li Zi and Xu Huaigu were invited to sit down next to Lin Cangyang, and the three of them sat at the same table, very close to each other, and seemed very cordial.

Lin Cangyang looked at Li Zi with a smile for a long time, and exclaimed: "That little girl back then is getting more and more out now, look at this appearance, how peugeot!" Xu is most of the time in the mountains to practice, Li Zi is not very good at agreeing with these kind words, just smiled slightly: "The princess praised it." Xu Huaigu smiled: "How is the princess lately?" Lin Cangyang frowned slightly, and said in a somewhat bitter tone: "What's so bad?" You want to hear me say yes, but it's not good. I can laugh when my friends come to see me, you don't know how sad I usually are, don't believe you ask Ling'er to go. Xu Huaigu asked, "What is the princess worried about?" Lin Cangyang sighed: "What else can it be?" Xu Huaigu, you are a cultivator, and so is Miss Li, you know it in your hearts. Although the fireworks were gorgeous, they were not long, and they disappeared in a blink of an eye. Now that this vast surplus country is also like a big firework, it is almost the last scene, how can I be happy? Xu Huaigu persuaded: "Princess, don't think so, now that the outcome is undecided, no one can say for sure." Your father is a man of great talent, and this battle may not be unfought. Lin Cangyang smiled: "Thank you for comforting me, I feel much better." Li Zi gave him a look, Xu Huaigu paused, and just wanted to say the purpose of his and Li Zi's visit, Ling'er came in with a teapot.

Lin Cangyang hurriedly asked Ling'er to make tea for them, and said: "Now there are very few small birds in Hongfang, these are all from the imperial tribute, and I don't have much, so let's drink some." Xu Huaigu was embarrassed to refuse, so he picked up the teacup and took a sip, and Li Zi also gently touched his lips.

Lin Cangyang took a sip of tea and said with interest: "Anyway, after you left Xingqing, where did you go?" What fun things did you encounter? Tell me about it. I'm not blessed to go out and play, and if I hear it from you, I'll see it with my own eyes. Xu Huaigu looked a little embarrassed and said, "This is a long story. Why don't I tell the princess next time, I have more important things to do this time. Lin Cangyang's expression was calm, as if he had already guessed that he was going to say this, so he said, "You say, I will definitely help if I can help." Xu Huaigu relieved his breath and said, "There is going to be a war in the south, this is a well-known thing, and I also heard about this matter before returning to Xingqing." A few days ago, Qingling's last formation was also broken, I'm afraid the princess has also heard of it, right? Li Zi and I came to visit, and we only asked for one thing, hoping that the princess would introduce the two of us to the battlefield and do our part to defend the Dayu Kingdom. ”

"You're going to war?" Lin Cangyang looked surprised, and hurriedly refused,

"No, it's not fun to go to war, it's going to bleed your head, I can't hurt you." Xu Huaigu persuaded: "Li Zi and I have the ability to protect ourselves. Although I was just an unknown person when I left Xingqing, now that I have returned from learning swords, I am already a sword cultivator in the Eight Realms. Li Zi too, her talisman technique is also very powerful, and she will never lose to ordinary Eight Realm monks, princess, please rest assured that we will go to the battlefield to kill demons. Li Zi also nodded, indicating that he hoped to go to the battlefield.

Lin Cangyang was in trouble, she lowered her head and thought for a long time, and said: "Since you want to go to the battlefield and have a certain ability, if I still stop it, it will seem that I look down on you." You want me to introduce you to the battlefield, and I do have a solution. Now the gentleman who teaches me is called Ling Li, he is the previous national teacher, he is good friends with Lu Zijin, the left general of the border army, and I can introduce you to Lu Zijin through him. Besides, Lu Zijin himself is a monk of the Nine Realms, and he has come from Middle-earth and has been guarding the border for many years, so he will definitely be happy to see you. Xu Huaigu hurriedly thanked: "In this way, I thank Her Royal Highness the Princess." Lin Cangyang said solemnly: "Thank me for what I did, I still have to thank you." Your willingness to go to the battlefield to contribute to the defense of Dayu is a blessing for Dayu Kingdom. With you and those people with lofty ideals who stick to the frontier day and night, perhaps the Great Yu Kingdom should not be destroyed. Xu Huaigu thanked him again, and Lin Cangyang also returned the gift, the number of gifts between the two was complicated, Li Zi was dazzled, and he couldn't cope with it.

Lin Cangyang took the opportunity to say again: "Ling Li will come over to teach me homework in the evening, you might as well stay and have dinner, meet him before leaving, and by the way, you can also negotiate this matter." Xu Huaigu agreed, and Li Zi was okay, so the two stayed in the Cangyang Mansion.

However, it was not yet noon, and it was still early before dinner, so Lin Cangyang proposed to go for a walk in the garden of his mansion together, and by the way, he wanted to listen to Xu Huaigu talk about the interesting things he had experienced outside over the years, and Xu Huaigu also agreed.

Lin Cangyang did a good job on the surface, and naturally neither of them could see her true intentions. In fact, she was still pondering whether to invite the two of them to the banquet where the young monks of each sect would come in three days.

But Xu Huaigu and Li Zi did not represent any sect, Lin Cangyang thought about it for a while, and decided to make a decision after asking Ling Li.