Thinking of this, Chu Mo dared to salute her and asked, "The girl is a brother's insider, a person in the Dark Fragrance Hall, Han Luxiao?"

When the woman heard this, the corners of her mouth raised, and she said with a smile: "The little woman has been away from the Dark Fragrance Hall for a long time, and she is no longer a person in the hall, just call me Ouyang Luxiao." ”

"I don't dare to call my sister-in-law by her name. Chu Mo said respectfully, "In the early years, I heard that my sister-in-law was knowledgeable and virtuous, but when I saw it today, it was true. ”

In the eyes of the world, Dark Xiangtang is a notorious killer group, most of the women in the hall, all of them are skilled, ruthless, and they have stood firm by assassinating the powerful people in the DPRK and China everywhere, doing shady black market business, monopolizing the market, and the officials of the Korean court dare to be angry but dare not speak out about this.

But in the dark incense hall that is so hostile to the world, there are also a few women who are proficient in the art of elegance, holding and reading poetry and books, just like the ladies of large families are famous in the township. Han Luxiao is one of them. She not only has high literary attainments, but also very scrupulously adherence to women's morals, after the marriage between the dark incense hall and Ouyang Mansion, she was deeply loved by Ouyang Zhenhua, and after Ouyang Jie's death, she still served the elders in the mansion, never remarried, and was praised by the world.

But for Chu Mo, what interests him the most is her identity. Hearing that she is Han Luyao's peer and is closest to her blood relationship, Chu Mo also wants to use her to explore Han Luyao's life experience.

Han Luxiao looked at him thoughtfully, and said with a smile: "Since the third young master is destined to be here, don't stand in the garden all the time, come and sit in the house." ”

Chu Mo looked at her like a spring breeze, looked at it for a while, and really couldn't see the similarity between her and Han Luyao. Han Luyao has always had an iceberg-like expression in his memory, rejecting people thousands of miles away, and her sisters of the same generation are like two contrasts.

In the face of her kind invitation, Chu Mo was not easy to retreat, and in order to prevent himself from accidentally appearing in Ouyang Mu's sight, he entered the side room with her.

Entering the side room again, Chu Mo carefully looked at the furnishings around him. The small room is spotless, with a faint fragrance wafting from it. Chu Mo cautiously glanced out the window, and after making sure that there was no trace of Ouyang Mu, he followed Lu Xiao and sat down at an immortal table.

Lu Xiao turned around, took out a teapot from a wooden cabinet, and began to lay out the tea. Chu Mo looked at her busy back, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Sister-in-law...... When you were in the Dark Incense Hall, did you ever hear that there was a woman of the same generation who was called Han Luyao?"

Lu Xiao walked to the table, smashed the tea leaves with a small wooden cone, and said while busy: "It's been many years, and there are a lot of Lu characters in the hall. ”

After hearing this, Chu Mo had to chuckle, he thought for a while, and then asked: "That sister-in-law, in the early years, did you ever hear that among her peers, there was a girl who was exiled to the Chu country?"

As soon as his words fell, Lu Xiao's hand pounding the tea leaves paused, as if he was awakened by these words. This reaction was fleeting, she lowered her head and said lightly: "I seem to have heard of this, I don't know what the third young master wants to ask." I was still young that year, young and ignorant, but I heard the elders mention that in the early years, the violent Chu invaded Korea, burning, killing and looting. The Han army was defeated, and the capital Suzhou almost fell, so the emperor invited the elders in the hall to ask for a joint fight against Chu. The elders were also dissatisfied with the violence for a long time, so they secretly assassinated a general of the Chu army, but they never wanted to assassinate the failure, and the Chu army besieged the Dark Fragrance Hall in order to retaliate, threatening to exterminate all the people in the hall. But in the end, for some reason, the elders sent a girl of the same age as me to Chu Jun, and the matter was over. ”

As she spoke, she pounded the tea leaves, took out an appropriate amount and weighed them in a porcelain plate, and then poured the tea leaves into boiling water with a delicate wooden spoon.

Chu Mo listened and nodded. This is not much different from the news he got in the Chu Palace when he was a child. Dark Xiangtang was ordered to assassinate Li Qiuhan, the general of the expeditionary force, and those assassins were all killed by Keqing. Soon after, Li Qiuhan brought the sloppy and dirty Han Luyao to the palace.

It's just that what he doesn't understand is why they gave up the opportunity to take revenge on Dark Xiangtang because of this, but brought back a girl who had nothing to do with this matter? The father still regarded her as his own, regarded her as his goddaughter, and even married her to Chu Liusheng in the end. Is there anything in her that makes her father care so much, is it just a talent for martial arts?

Chu Mo's heart was full of questions, he looked up at Lu Xiao, who was concentrating on making tea, her eyebrows and eyes were similar to Han Luyao's, but with a little more gentleness and kindness. He was afraid that asking too many questions would make people suspicious, so he swallowed his worries into his stomach.

Just as he was thinking about it, Lu Xiao had already made tea, poured the tea into the washed tea bowl with a long-spout pot, turned around under his nose for a while, and then put it down in front of him, and said softly: "Third Young Master, how about tasting my tea art?"

Chu Mo hesitated for a while, picked up the tea bowl, and a strong fragrance came to his nose. He took a sip, and the hot tea entered his throat, like a sweet spring, and he couldn't help sighing: "Good tea, sister-in-law's tea art is really superior." ”

After hearing this, Lu Xiao's eyes narrowed like a crescent moon, and said with a smile: "Third Young Master, don't make fun of me, it's just that I learned a few things from my subordinates in the mansion, and it's not enough to be elegant." ”

As she spoke, she sat down opposite Chu Mo, leaned on the table, supported her cheek with one arm, looked at Chu Mo and asked, "I don't know what new things the third young master encountered when he went north to take the entrance examination?" My sister-in-law stayed in this big mansion all day long, and she never traveled far, and I don't know how things have changed outside now. ”

Chu Mo was stunned for a moment, and he didn't know where to start. He put down the tea bowl in a daze, and said gently: "This is a long story, I have been away from home for a long time, and I am a little uncomfortable when I return to the house, so why don't my sister-in-law tell me about the things in the house after I leave home all these years?"

Lu Xiao listened, smiled faintly, and said, "Okay, I haven't talked to outsiders for a long time, if it weren't for this party, I don't know how long I would have been bored in this garden." ”

As she spoke, she also served a pot of tea for herself, took a sip, and said, "The third young master doesn't know that when you left home, you made the old man angry, and claimed to outsiders that he wanted to break off relations with the young master. But this is just a momentary anger, who is a parent in the world who does not care for his children. Later, the master heard that you wrote a lot of anti-Chu articles on the way north, and he also gave him a face, and often showed it off to outsiders. I also left a copy of the manuscript. ”

With that, she got up, took out a booklet from a wooden drawer, opened it and handed it to Chu Mo.

Chu Mo secretly smiled bitterly, picked up the booklet and flipped through it briefly.

Walking alone in Beizhou, traveling with thousands of miles of war.

I didn't hear the rooster crowing through the township, and I saw Chu wolf swallowing the princes.

Isn't this just a limerick poem that scolds me? Can you still take the exam at this level? Chu Mo sighed helplessly, put away the booklet, Lu Xiao only thought that he was dissatisfied with the previous writing, and said with a smile: "I don't know how to understand these things of you big men, I just think it's very well written, and the master is full of praise, so I hid it privately, the third young master doesn't want to make fun of me." ”

After that, her crisp and pleasant laughter like a copper bell came, and said: "After the third young master passed out a lot of poems, there was suddenly no news, and the master was very worried. But at that time, the war was scorching, the violent Chu was defeated and retreated one after another, the whole country was hating the enemy, and the master was also busy raising donations, so he couldn't take care of the young master, but he was still very worried about it. It wasn't until he heard the news that the young master was a county magistrate in Hangzhou that the old man was relieved. ”

Chu Mo nodded. A few years ago, he only had a one-sided relationship with Ouyang Mo in the dungeon of Chu Palace. At that time, Ouyang Mo had been tortured to the point that he lost his human form, and only half a breath was left. But when he saw that he was still showing the backbone of a scholar, he scolded bitterly. His appearance is really very similar to himself, so Lu Chuan peeled off his face alive and replaced it on his own face.

Now that I think about it, Chu Mo really admires him, the background of a big family, and the feeling of seeing death as home, it is not easy.

"Speaking of which, I married into the Ouyang Mansion not long after the young master left home. Lu Xiao recalled lightly, "Although my husband and I are married, he is also an elegant person and treats me very well." It's just that the newlywed Yan'er didn't have many days to go, and the husband joined the army and went to the front line, and finally ......"

As she spoke, her voice lowered, and her expression became sad.

Seeing this, Chu Mo hurriedly comforted: "My cousin has meritorious service in protecting the country, and it can be regarded as sacrificing his life for the country, which is really glorious. ”

"The third young master doesn't know. The troops that invaded Korea in the south were extremely ferocious, and the husband went to join the army, which can be described as nine deaths. Lu Xiao said, with sadness in his eyes, "I tried my best to dissuade him before leaving, but he just didn't listen." You said that the defeat of the Chu army was obviously a matter of time before he was defeated, and there were not many people who resisted Chu, and there were many less of him, so why did he go to die alone?"

After hearing this, Chu Mo didn't know what else to say. It has always been difficult to understand that men are ambitious in all directions, while women only care about the safety of one family.

According to what he learned about the situation in Ouyang Fuzhong from Ouyang Mo's life, when his cousin Ouyang Jie went to join the army, the Chu army had indeed begun to go downhill. And Chu Mo himself was also ordered to be in danger at that time, changed his identity and went all the way south, lurking in the Tianshu Pavilion of Yan Kingdom.

And the turning point that made the Chu army, which was invincible during the expedition and marched bravely all the way, and made the world frightened, began to retreat one after another, was one person - the first person on the world's swordsman list, the swordsman master, Li Chungang.

In that war-torn era, the people in the rivers and lakes never intervened in the disputes between countries, and many of them regarded themselves as high-minded and spread the idea of inaction, believing that no matter which side provoked the war, the final victims were still the people. The strong men in the rivers and lakes who do not appear in the world regard war as ashamed, and it is also for this reason that a large number of guest kings in the Chu army often fight one to ten when facing ordinary soldiers, and there is no opponent.

But just when the Chu army's expeditions were triumphant and all countries bowed down one after another, for some reason, Lu Chuan suddenly designed to kidnap Li Chungang's wife and daughter. Although Li Chungang had already hidden in the mountains and forests at that time, and many people in the court strongly opposed it, the king of Chu and Lu Chuan still insisted on going their own way.

As expected, Li Chungang was furious, and after learning that his wife and daughter were trapped in Wu by Lu Chuan, he slaughtered three thousand elite Chu troops here, but finally reluctantly surrendered to the king of Chu. After this incident, it caused an uproar in the rivers and lakes, Li Chungang, as a swordsman master, has always been deeply respected and loved by the people in the rivers and lakes, and he was ashamed of the people in the world by such despicable means to force him to submit. Then Xilu Academy took this opportunity to travel around the world, and after some lobbying, the whole world joined forces to fight Chu for the first time in history, which opened the prelude to the fall of the Great Chu.

Lu Xiao raised his head, saw Chu Mo's distracted appearance, squeezed out a smile, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said, "Third Young Master Lao listened to my complaints, it's really rude." Husband, he has been gone for several years, I live in this garden, there are very few people, and when I saw the young master somehow rambling a few words, I hope that the third young master is not strange. ”

Chu Mo came back to his senses and said busily: "Sister-in-law, don't say that, my cousin died on the battlefield, I am also very sad, and I ask my sister-in-law to mourn." Over the years, my sister-in-law has worked hard inside and outside, and I use tea instead of wine to toast my sister-in-law. ”

After that, he picked up the tea bowl and drank it all, and the fragrant tea entered his throat, which was sweet and bitter and cool, making people feel refreshed.

Seeing him like this, Lu Xiao couldn't help but laugh out loud, and said, "Where is the tea drunk like this, you have to drink it slowly to taste some flavor." ”

She got up, poured some more into the tea bowl in front of Chu Mo, and said, "The days are the same, I have been raising flowers and plants in this garden alone all these years, and I have tasted some tastes. ”

Chu Mo smiled embarrassedly, looked at her face, and in a trance, he saw some shadows of Han Luyao again.

When he was a child, he was forced by his father to practice martial arts and swordsmanship, and when his peers were still doing swordsmanship, he was forced to practice with the guest qing in the palace, whether it was hot or cold, it never stopped.

But even if he had the best resources in the world for him to improve and improve, Han Luyao was like his nightmare, whether it was in the scriptures or swordsmanship, everything was a head above him. He was at a young and rebellious age, and every time he saw Han Luyao kneeling in front of him and kowtowing expressionlessly, he always felt that he had been severely humiliated, and Han Luyao's empty eyes seemed to be saying to him all the time, what if you are the prince, you are not as good as me, a prisoner.

Ever since he showed off his flower-dipping swordsmanship to Han Luyao that day, he was easily broken by her, and he slapped her in anger and shame, and somehow it reached the ears of his father. His father punished him to think about it behind closed doors for three days, and after he came out, he arranged for Han Luyao to practice with him.

Those days are really painful in retrospect, his dignity as a high-ranking prince has been trampled on by a prisoner of war, if he can't defeat the experienced and skilled Keqing, it is just that, in the face of a woman of the same age, he has been defeated repeatedly. He felt a great setback, and his self-esteem had fallen to a low point.

How did he fall in love with her in the end, Chu Mo couldn't figure it out now, but at this moment, looking at the face similar to her and his face, his heart was a little throbbing.

"Third Young Master?"

Lu Xiao's gentle call startled him back from his memories, and he realized that he had been staring at her in a daze for a long time. Chu Mo knew that he was out of shape, and hurriedly coughed a few times in embarrassment.

Lu Xiao laughed a little when he saw his embarrassed appearance, and said softly: "Third young master, the hour is not early, the banquet is about to start, let's go meet the master first." ”

"Good. Chu Mo hurriedly agreed, stood up, and accidentally exposed the hairpin in the cuffs for a while. He hurriedly folded his sleeves, did not dare to look up, and walked away from the main entrance with a quick step.