Chu Zhixia sat alone under the lamp, his heart was so impatient, but he could only sit under the lamp and use the silver hairpin to turn on the candlelight little by little. She was so annoyed that when she thought of Chu Mingyan's appearance, she couldn't wait to burn down the ancestral tomb of the Bai family.

For so many years, Chu Shixia hadn't even heard him say anything about the imperial capital.

Chu Mingyan has always been forbearing, maybe he was too hard and tired, so the line of life and death that was ignorant and ignorant in those five years was not taken seriously. Or, on his shoulders, he has to provoke the military defense of the northern part of the country, the rise and fall of the Chu family, and the stability of the world, so he can't bend down to tell.

Chu Zhixia hated the regent and the Spirit Emperor, but he hated himself the most.

She hated herself for being so heartless.

In the middle of the night, Yuzhu pushed the door in and gently raised her hand.

Chu Zhixia struggled for a moment, but was held tighter by Yuzhu, and broke his fingers a little bit. Chu Zhixia didn't know where Yuzhu's strength came from. The wound on her palm cut by the porcelain cup fragment was not deep, but it was too much and too messy, and it looked a little pitiful.

"Some time ago, my face was swollen by a slap, and today I just went to enjoy the flowers, and I hurt my hand again." Yuzhu frowned, and said distressedly, "Are those daughters embarrassing you?" ”

"No, I made it myself. Who can embarrass me? Chu Shixia withdrew his hand and asked, "How are you asking?" ”

"There is indeed no subordinate in the mansion who has served Emperor Ling for twenty-one years, and the oldest one has also come in for Emperor Ling's twenty-sixth year." Yuzhu said slowly, "So the slave and maid found the person who sold the servants in that year. ”

In the twenty-sixth year of Emperor Ling, a total of 23 servants were bought in the Autumn Leaf Mountain Residence, including men and women, old and young.

"So much?" Chu Zhixia twisted his eyebrows.

"The person who did the business at the time was old, but she was very impressed by it. When the old prince returned to the court, the government and the opposition were all overjoyed. can do the Chu family's business, she can't ask for it. But it is strange that it took so long to buy a servant when there were always people living in the house. ”

Yuzhu paused and said, "It's like all the people in the mansion disappeared overnight." ”

It's not gone. Chu Zhixia thought, it's dead.

The king of Zhenbei returned triumphantly, but he was greeted by his dying wife and children. Chu Shixia learned from the words of others that his father was not a very good-tempered person, but he was not harsh. He was able to kill all the people in the Autumn Leaves Mountain Residence who were monitoring and imprisoning Shen Yu and Chu Mingyan, so you can imagine what Chu Mingyan was like back then.

Chu Shixia felt very cold and sad.

"Miss?" Yuzhu leaned down to look at her worriedly.

"I want to go back to the clouds." Chu Zhixia's voice was hoarse, his eyelashes were moist, and he said aggrievedly, "I miss the eldest brother and the second brother, I want to go home." ”

What the East Palace, what the heirs, what the saints, honor and disgrace, Qingliu dignitaries, Chu Zhixia doesn't want to care about anything, he doesn't want anything. She just wanted to hug the sick and broken Chu Mingyan and cry, and ask him well, after so many years, does it hurt or hate?

Yuzhu didn't know what was going on at all, she calmed down after being stunned, wiped Chu Zhixia's tears with her knuckles, and said softly: "The eldest lady comes to the imperial capital, and Yuzhu will come to the imperial capital." The eldest lady returned to the clouds, and the jade beads returned to the clouds. ”

"Yuzhu guards the eldest lady for a lifetime."

Chu Zhixia leaned on her shoulder and sobbed lowly, like a wounded little beast. Yuzhu patted her back again and again, coaxing a child.

——

The twenty-first day of the lunar month.

It's one day closer to the end of the year.

After Chu Zhixia got up, he was lazy, and squatted at the side door with a look of pride to divide the little beggar's rice balls to eat. She built a makeshift shed with bamboo poles, burned a pot of charcoal, and seven or eight ragged children gathered around the brazier to nibble on rice balls.

Chu Zhixia squatted beside a group of dirty children, and also bit a rice ball in his mouth.

"Female Bodhisattva, your family won't be eaten poor by us, right?" The little beggar asked tactfully.

"Do I look poor?" Chu Zhixia glanced at him and said angrily.

The little beggar was no longer afraid of her, and said bluntly, "Then why do you accompany us to eat balls?" ”

"I'm so cheap, can't I?" Chu Zhixia was a child's temper and choked with the little beggar.

"I heard that today, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is giving porridge at the city gate." The little beggar swallowed his saliva and stuffed the rice ball into his arms three or two times, "I'm going to beg for porridge to drink." ”

One end eats and the other ends, this child is shrewd, and neither end is left behind.

Chu Zhixia called out to him, "What else have you heard?" ”

The little beggar didn't have time to reply to her, and ran away without a trace. The other little beggars also ran almost away, leaving Chu Zhixia squatting alone in the shed, a little desolate. Chu Zhixia touched the tip of his nose and secretly scolded them in his heart for having no conscience.

Chu Zhixia squatted so numb that his legs and feet were numb, and he didn't know when there was one more person around him.

"I went to Ye's house yesterday, how was the harvest?" Pei Zhang stood beside her, with a graceful demeanor, which was completely different from her virtue of being able to go to the base of the city wall at any time to ask for food.

"The prince wants to marry Huo Wenqing." Chu Zhi Xia Yi said simply, and added in his heart, the regent's discordant plan was wrong, which made me angry.

"No wonder." Pei Zhang understood.

Early this morning, the news that the prince and Huo Wenqing asked and answered at the Ye family banquet spread all over the streets and alleys. The prince's kindness benefited from Huo Wenqing, and Huo Wenqing's refusal of the wealth of jade was known to everyone.

There are even more good people who claim that the daughter of the Huo family entered the imperial capital on the seventeenth day of the lunar month, and the begonia bloomed in the snow on the seventeenth day of the lunar month, and this flower bloomed for her. There was a chattering fortune teller who pinched his fingers and shouted that Huo Wenqing had a "noble man's life", and those who were not high-ranking and powerful would not be blessed.

Chu Zhixia said with a smile, "Who made this up?" is bold and directly says that she is the future queen. ”

With such words, Huo Wenqing couldn't go up and down on a high place. The prince's overtures couldn't be more obvious, whoever provokes Huo Wenqing again will rob the prince. Even if Huo Wenqing has someone who wants to marry, that person may not dare to marry.

"Do you know what Miss Huo did it?" Pei Zhang also smiled.

"How?"

"Miss Huo smashed the fortune teller's stall, and in front of the public, she said, 'Zi is silent, strange and confused'." Pei Zhang squeezed his eyebrows, and he could imagine the expression of the prince in the East Palace when he heard this.

Chu Zhixia laughed out loud, "It's worthy of Huo Wenqing." ”

Pei Zhang laughed enough, stopped and said, "The prince can't marry Huo Wenqing." ”

"If Lang has a concubine, it's fine, since Miss Huo doesn't want to, then we might as well take a hand." Chu Zhixia said it hypocritically, even if Huo Wenqing secretly promised the prince, Chu Zhixia would make a hindrance and stir up this marriage.

Pei Zhang looked at her, "You already have a way?" ”

Chu Zhixia shook his head, "I'll see Huo Wenqing first." ”

——

The post house is simple and remote, and no one sweeps the snow in front of the door.

Chu Zhixia led the horses and wore a hat, like a wanderer from afar, knocking on the door of the post house. It was Huo Wenqing who came to open the door in person, she rolled up her sleeves, with a layer of powder on her hands, and said hello to Chu Shixia with a faint expression.

"Come in and sit."

Huo Wenqing turned his head and returned to the post house. Chu Zhixia followed her into the door, and only then did she see that there was only one post guard and one maid in the post house, one of them was burning the fire and the other was kneading dough, and they were very busy. The aroma of wheat emanates from the steamer on the stove.

"What is this doing?" Chu Zhixia asked.

"The prince's soup porridge is only half a month, maybe he doesn't have the patience to play this kind of trick, maybe it's shorter. This bread can be left for a long time, and it will satisfy hunger. Huo Wenqing stingily broke off a small piece and handed it to Chu Shixia, "Do you want to taste it?" ”

The freshly baked cake still has a strong aroma, but it can't hide the rough taste, like chewing raw wheat husks.

"How?" Huo Wenqing asked.

"It's okay to be hungry." Chu Zhixia commented pertinently.

In his previous life, Chu Zhixia was always in a hurry to march or fight an ambush, and the dry food he brought was not much better than this. At the worst time, they will even cut the ice and snow, dig grass roots to fill their stomachs, and as long as there is something in their stomachs, they will still have the strength to get on the horse.

"There are enough beggars to survive the winter." Huo Wenqing said.

Chu Zhixia had nothing to hide under her clear gaze, so she simply rolled up her sleeves to help knead her dough. Although she has never been in the kitchen, the person who practices martial arts has the strength of her arms and shares, and she has shared a lot of burdens on Huo Wenqing. Several people were busy until dark, barely finishing their work.

"I didn't expect Miss Huo to cook." Chu Zhixia's arm was sore, and he leaned against the pillar with a cup of hot tea, and said idly.

"My father and brother did not hold an official position, and relied on the inheritance left by their ancestors, plus teaching and educating people to subsidize the family. In order to make these cakes, it has already taken me a lot of entanglement, and how to get back to Jiangnan is still a problem. Huo Wenqing said so, but he was embarrassed and embarrassed, and he was quite at ease.

Chu Shixia said ramblingly: "Miss Huo's poems are very good. ”

Huo Wenqing didn't ask her why she came, and chatted with her with her, as if the storm in the imperial capital was not because of her.

"'The country is unfortunate and the poet is prosperous, and the vicissitudes of life are endowed with work', if the Haiyan River is clear and there is no war in the world, there will not be so many poems that have been passed down for centuries. I'd rather have no poetry in the Great Zhou Dynasty than mourn all over the wilderness. Huo Wenqing said, "I was just a momentary rash that day, but I caused such a big trouble to myself, I knew that Miss Chu would eat with peace of mind." ”

"Even if you eat dumb that day, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will not let you go." Chu Zhixia's words were sharp, "Does Miss Huo really think that begonia is a coincidence?" ”

Huo Wenqing was silent for a moment, then suddenly tilted his head and laughed.

"I've only been in the imperial capital for four days, but I've heard a lot of rumors about Miss Chu. On top of the martial arts, Miss Chu defeated the children of the family, and the ranking of the martial arts was washed in blood, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince immediately drew a line with the Chen family, and many people were expelled from the East Palace. Huo Wenqing's eyes were inquiring, "I thought you were the prince's lobbyist." ”

"Since you think I'm the prince's lobbyist, why did you open the door for me?" Chu Shixia raised his eyebrows.

"You seem to be very good at work, I'm too tired to do it alone." Huo Wenqing said confidently, "Don't let the coolies sent to the door be in vain." ”

"If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Miss Huo tie the knot, it will be easy for Miss Huo to set up a shed in the imperial capital to give porridge, how much porridge to give, and how long to give porridge." Chu Zhixia stared at her and said word by word, "Miss Huo is really not impressed?" ”

To be able to give porridge in the imperial capital, asking for money, power, and manpower is not as simple as one or two good deeds and how many yin virtues are accumulated. Behind it is the monstrous wealth and supreme power brought by this marriage, and even the rise and fall of the Huo family.

"The sage said, 'If you are poor, you will be good to yourself, and if you are good, you will help the world.'" I, Huo Wenqing, have no long things, and I prefer to be nosy, but I don't want to be Jiang's mud bodhisattva. ”

Huo Wenqing smiled slightly, frank and bold: "Eunuchs are rampant, powerful ministers are in charge, the people are in dire straits, and foreign enemies are eyeing each other. Since he is in a high position, he should get rid of the old evils and correct the dynasty, instead of using these thoughts to calculate a woman's marriage and consolidate the power in his hands. ”

Chu Zhixia's eyelids jumped, and he didn't want to hear what he said next.

"This is not the work of the prince of a country, I, Huo Wenqing, look down on him."

"The country is unfortunate and the poet is fortunate, and he is endowed with vicissitudes of life." From Zhao Yi's "Inscription Mountain Poem"

"If you are poor, you will be good alone, and if you are good, you will help the world." From Mencius"