As he walked he said, "If there's nothing wrong, shouldn't I take you out? Just walk around as you like, look at the Huai flower above your head…….”
I didn't hear what he said after that, all my attention was focused on the carriage in front of me, Huo Qubing turned to look at me, then following my eyes and looking at the carriage, the carriage stopped in front of a magnificent house. I smiled at him, "Suddenly I have something to do, I'll go first."
He grabbed me, “No way!”
With all my might I shook his hand away, "Sometime I will look for you and apologize." Before I could finish my words, I had already flown towards the carriage, behind me he shouted, “Xiao Yu!”
Without looking away, I continued forward and landed on the side of the carriage. Qin Li's hand that was holding the whip suddenly clenched tightly, but as soon as he saw me he became relieved and nodded with a smile. I tapped on the carriage wall, Jiu Ye opened the curtain, when he saw me, he smiled and asked, "Why are you outside the city walls?"
I bent down and opened the curtain for him, “Aren't you also out of town?” After speaking I looked at Qin Li uncertainly, seeing my expression, Jiu Ye said with a smile, “My grandmother is surnamed Shi, her nickname is Qing, this house is named “Qing Mansion”, this house was specially built by my grandfather in his youth for grandmother. I didn't want to overhaul it at all, so I didn't make it wheelchair-friendly.”
I turned to look at the house, I felt very jealous, this grandfather turned out to be so romantic. In the past, I didn't understand, he was clearly surnamed Meng, but his business name was Shi Company. Besides that, all the orphans raised by Shi company were also surnamed Shi. Today I just found out that that surname is the surname of the woman he loves.
Jiu Ye took a stick from the carriage, it was the stick I saw previously in the corner of his reading room. Relying on his cane he stood on the ground, it should have made him look awkward, but the staff hidden in the sleeves of his wide robe didn't seem out of place at all. Because for the first time seeing him standing up straight, I was stunned, I stared at him stunned.
He laughed to himself, "It's strange, isn't it?" I quickly shook my head, shaking my head hard, “No, you…..it looks so good!”
He looked at me, I quickly said, “Hasn't anyone told you before, what are you like in the eyes of other people? You……you……your every move is so…….” I was getting tense and increasingly unable to find the right words to describe it, and I was also worried that he would misunderstand because I kept looking at him, so I almost bit my own tongue when I spoke.
He stretched out his hand and smoothed my hair which was messy in the wind, while looking at me without blinking he said very softly, “Yu er, don't talk, I understand what you mean”.
I smiled at him, but my gaze drifted over his shoulder, I saw Huo Qubing still standing where he was, watching us from a distance. I felt an unspeakable pain and quickly avoided his eyes.
While leaning on the stick, Jiu Ye walked, "Because there are many hot springs on this mountain, grandpa deliberately built a house in this place." I walked slowly beside him, then asked with a smile, “Did you come here to soak in hot water?”
He answered, "That's right, hot water is effective in improving blood circulation in my legs." Secretly I looked at his feet, but unfortunately his feet were hidden under his robe, so I couldn't see what disease he was suffering from, but seeing him walk, it seemed he didn't need to bother.
Before entering the door, I subconsciously turned to the distance, Huo Qubing's figure still seemed unmoved. It was late spring, the Huai flowers above his head were in full bloom, the entire tree was covered in white snow. When the wind blew, the flower blossoms fell, but in the middle of a sky that seemed to be full of flying snow, he, who always liked cleanliness, didn't realize that he didn't move at all and let the flower blossoms fall on his head and brocade robe.
Yuanyang Teng flower buds began to appear, among the green leaves, the white flower buds were playing 'hide and seek' with me, if I looked at them carefully, I could only find where the new buds were hiding. Yesterday there were nine buds, today there were fifteen, I counted them again to make sure I didn't count wrongly, at this rate, soon I won't be able to count them anymore.
I stood in front of Yuanyang Teng's spokes and muttered, "I have caught a lot of earthworms, and given you buffalo dung in early spring, this year you must repay me! You must have the most and most beautiful flowers."
The leaves of Yuanyang Teng waved in the wind, as if answering my question. "When you are blooming beautifully, I will bring him here to see you." I kissed a newly growing leaf, "You guys tried hard, I tried hard too."
When I entered the Bamboo Hut, Tianchao was sitting at the table writing. In surprise, I pointed at the empty wheelchair in the yard and asked, "Where's Jiu Ye? Has he left the house?"
Tianchao smiled and said, "Go to the Orchid House to see grandfather Xiao Feng."
I nodded while looking at the wheelchair, I was still a bit surprised.
Tianchao put down his writing brush and walked to my side, then said while looking at the wheelchair, "One of Jiu Ye's legs can't move at all, but the other leg can be moved, if he uses a cane, he can walk, although not far. Every time "Moving days are better for the body than just sitting."
"Hmm", I said, Tianchao was silent for a while, then said again, "When he was little, although Jiu Ye had difficulty walking, he liked to move, he was always curious about new things, always liked to follow us to play, but at that time we didn't know anything, and always thought that inviting him was a hassle, because we always had to wait for him. We didn't dare show it in front of him, but behind his back we were always looking for a way to leave him, even the person who found that way was considered the smartest. Slowly land, Jiu Ye realized what we meant, he became quieter and spent more and more time reading books, perhaps because his mute friends couldn't possibly leave him. Once upon a time, behind the Old Master's back, Jiu Ye left the house alone with a cane and didn't come home until it was dark. The anxious Old Master cursed at us, then punished us by making us kneel on the road stones. After that Jiu Ye came home, his clothes were torn, his face was blue and bruised and his hands and head were covered in blood. However, when asked about what happened, he did not want to say anything and only said that he himself was not careful, after that he asked the Old Master to allow us to rise."
Tianchao looked at the wheelchair and took a deep breath. I was silent, my heart ached, various feelings were mixed in my heart.
"At that time we were really sorry, the eldest brother beat up the Chang'an hooligans to find out what happened. It turns out that after Jiu Ye read about how to make weapons in the Mo Zi book, he went to the street to see the blacksmith forging iron, the delinquents who didn't know anything like us, followed him while singing, 'The cripple has three legs, he walks unsteadily, other people take ten steps, he gets scolded by his wife'. While singing they imitated Jiu Ye's way of walking and invited laughter there were a lot of people. They and Jiu Ye fought, and of course Jiu Ye lost, his head was bleeding from being hit. The first brother got angry and fought with those hooligans. We wanted to take Jiu Ye out to play, but since then Jiu Ye didn't want to using a cane in front of other people."
'The cripple has three legs, he walks unsteadily, other people take him ten steps, causing him to be scolded by his wife'. Who said 'Humans are born with a good character?' It seems that Xun Zi's saying that 'Humans are born with an evil disposition' makes more sense. Now I understand why the stick was placed in the corner of the reading room, and also understand why even though it was placed in the corner of the room, the stick was completely dustless. He was a healer, of course he knew the benefits of exercise for his own health, but the song and the people's teasing made him only want to use a stick if no one was there.
Tianchao turned to look at me and asked, "Are you blaming us?"
"A little! But if Jiu Ye himself doesn't care about it, I'll forget about it too, otherwise......" With a smile I looked at Tianchao.
Tianchao smiled and said, “Yu er, your character is truly straightforward, and doesn't care about other people's affairs.”
I looked up and asked, "I just want to live well, and want the people I love to live well, I don't want to harm other people for no reason, is this wrong?"
Tianchao quickly said, "It's not wrong, it's not wrong! But don't misunderstand what I said. The three of us are very grateful that you came! After Jiu Ye returned from the Qing House he was no longer embarrassed to use a cane in front of other people, you know, even "Second brother, who was very calm, his eyes turned red when he saw Jiu Ye using a stick in front of us. The big rock in Jiu Ye's and our hearts that had been weighing us down for years was finally gone because of you."
My face felt a little hot, I looked down at the ground, then in a low voice grumbled, "Damn Qin Li, he looks so timid and quiet, but he can't hold his mouth."
Tianchao laughed out loud, "It's a good thing he can't hold his mouth! If you saw him imitate your face when he looked at Jiu Ye with admiration, you would know that not employing him in your entertainment house was a mistake! At that time we laughed until our legs went weak, big brother The first one even hit the table until it broke because he couldn't stop himself."
"What did you say? Come on, repeat if you dare!", I shouted, shaking my hips and kicking at him.
Before Tianchao could reply, Jiu Ye who was propped up on a stick came into the courtyard, “What words are there to repeat?”
I glared at Tianchao, then rushed to Jiu Ye's side, “Qin Li is naughty, you must punish him severely, otherwise, just hand him over to me to be punished.”
Jiu Ye glanced at Tianchao and asked, "When did Qin Li offend you?"
Tianchao's face looked worried, he looked at me pleadingly, after clearing his throat for a while, I embarrassedly explained, naughtily I said, "Offending people doesn't need to be for a reason, after all, I'm the one who was offended by him."
Jiu Ye walked to the side of the wheelchair and sat down, Tianchao quickly approached him holding a handkerchief, while wiping the sweat from his forehead, Jiu Ye said, "The punishment is to be your carriage driver for a month, it's up to you how you will punish him."
I glanced triumphantly at Tianchao, Jiu Ye said again, "Recently the first, second and third brothers have been unemployed a lot, I see that the jade stone factory in Lantian needs to be supervised, who does the third brother think is suitable to do it?"
Tianchao's face looked even more worried, he solemnly said to Jiu Ye, "Sister-in-law just gave birth, first brother doesn't want to leave her even a step, to help first brother, second brother take care of all her affairs. Just now I planned to check all the books again our efforts in Chang'an, then gave them to our disciples Xiao Feng and Xiao Yu to study. The sun and moon bear witness, for the sake of the mountains and rivers, we are absolutely not idle!"
While leaning on the back of Jiu Ye's wheelchair, I looked down with a smile, Jiu Ye sighed softly, "Hearing your words, it seems like you guys really aren't lazy."
Tianchao immediately said, "We really are not slacking off! We only occasionally drink tea together, talk all day and listen to stories, next time this kind of thing won't happen again. We'll be so busy we won't even have time to talk." ".
Because I was busy joking, it turned out that I didn't hear the hidden meaning behind Jiu Ye's words. After Tianchao finished speaking, I only realized that Jiu Ye had guessed what Tianchao was actually doing. My heart felt a little embarrassed, happy and sweet, without saying anything. what, I'm standing beside Jiu Ye.
With wide steps Jinyan ran into the yard, as soon as he saw me a big smile appeared on his face, “Yu er, why are you here? You came to see Jiu Ye?”
Tianchao quickly walked to his side, then pushed him out, "You haven't checked the fragrance oil that just arrived yesterday, you should check it immediately..."
Jinyan's voice came from outside the courtyard, “Nothing! You said...don't cover my mouth...huh?
……What……Lantian?……Oh!……” A few moments later Jinyan's voice could no longer be heard, only Tianchao could be heard saying, “Jiu Ye, the bookkeeping book that I haven't copied will be I'll bring it tomorrow, today there is an urgent matter we have to do first, we'll go first." After he finished speaking, only the sound of footsteps could be heard walking quickly, and soon the courtyard had become completely silent.
My heart was troubled, the sweetness in my heart was mixed with embarrassment, I didn't know what to say, but Jiu Ye seemed to feel nothing and pushed his wheelchair into the house, "The Xiangfei bamboo flute is finished, the stem veins are already good so if adding carvings would be too much, so I was just lazy and didn't carve it. do you like it?”
I accepted the flute, "I don't understand things like this, if you think it's good, then I guess this flute must be good."
Jiu Ye smiled and said, “In your house lives a famous court music master, many people want to learn from him but can't, have you ever asked him to teach you a thing or two?”
Because he mentioned Li Yannian's name, I couldn't help but think of Li Guangli, my forehead furrowed, Jiu Ye asked, "Why?"
I sighed, “When I think about Li Guangli, I can only sigh and say ‘Dragons have nine sons, all different*+’”.
Jiu Ye smiled and said, “You think too much, if he's really annoying, just throw him out, it's over.”
I smiled without saying anything, the problem is not that simple, for your sake, I can't just throw him away. Jiu Ye coughed softly, “Recently your entertainment house business is growing very fast, I heard from my subordinates that you are also opening a brothel business, are you secretly……..you can still open another business, why do you do that? If you just want to make a profit, there's nothing wrong with opening another business. Now you are too hasty."
After being shocked, my heart was overjoyed, something that I thought no one else would know could not be hidden from him, unless... unless he always watched my every action carefully, I stammered and said, "I have my own plan".
He paused, then suddenly said, “Yu er, do you know why I purposely never walk with a cane outside? If there was nothing extraordinary, I would just sit in a wheelchair, and always try to make others think that my body was very weak, even Tianchao and the others thought that I was too weak to walk long distances and often got sick. "Actually, my legs are disabled and my body is weak, but it's not as bad as it seems."
I was stunned for a moment, was it not caused by inferiority complex during childhood as Tianchao said? "Why? Who are you pretending to be?”
Jiu Ye nodded, “For the emperor. My mother was Empress Dowager Dou's granddaughter, when she was little she often played around in the palace, at that time the relationship between the emperor and mother as cousins was very good, therefore, as long as Empress Dowager Dou was still alive, the Shi Company was very close to the Dou Family. After the Dou Family fell, the emperor was very worried about the Dou Family's strength. After my father and mother died, the huge Shi Company fell into my hands, if only I were not a disabled person who always seemed to be sickly, and if the Shi Company's business in my hands had not gradually experienced setbacks, the Shi Company would not have been able to escape this. from total destruction.”
For the first time he took the initiative to tell me about his family background, I was stunned to hear it, how old was he then? At such a young age he had to be responsible for the lives of so many people and guard against the emperor. But he only talked about his family's relationship with the Han Dynasty, how is his relationship with Xiyu? What are the responsibilities there? How heavy is the burden he bears?
He stared at me sharply, then said slowly, “Yu er, the current emperor is calculating and vigilant, his actions are very firm, if necessary, he can order anyone to be killed. Don't offend the imperial family, if you want to compete with other companies in Chang'an, I can……but……” He swallowed the words that were on his lips, then said in all seriousness, “Yu er, you have to think carefully. -cook your every action.”
***
"Bruk!", I slammed my chopsticks on the table. "What is this, good buns like this, why are the contents like this?"
Hong Gu glanced at me, then went back to eating the steamed buns in his hand, "The steamed buns steamed with Huai flowers are fragrant, I deliberately asked the kitchen to make them. A few days ago I brewed tea with Huai flowers and you were angry, today the delicious buns are also inviting your anger, when has the Huai flower offended you, so that when you see it your anger immediately flares up?"
I sat down gloomily, Hong Gu continued to eat and ignored me anymore.
It wasn't the Huai flower that offended me, it was me who didn't want to think about the person standing under the Huai tree.
After lying down for a long time I couldn't sleep, so I put on clothes and opened the door while feeling around in the dark. Under the twinkling starlight, in the middle of the pitch black night, I saw someone standing under Yuanyang Teng's pillar, my heart jumped as soon as I recognized him, for a moment I couldn't find the right words.
Huo Qubing turned around and looked at me without saying anything, after a while he suddenly said, "You didn't keep your promise, you said you would look for me sometime, but until now you haven't come looking for me."
I walked in front of him, after a moment of silence, I still couldn't find the right words, I looked at Yuanyang Teng, a pure white flower was blooming shyly, I was surprised and excited and exclaimed spontaneously, "Look! Flower it's blooming, the first flower to bloom this year!"
Huo Qubing turned to look at the flower, "Apparently I was the first person to see it bloom."
I took a deep breath, "It smells so good, can you smell it?"
Huo Qubing said, "Last year I couldn't see them bloom because I was in Xiyu, but they know themselves, this year their first flowers bloomed for me."
I laughed and said, "I never thought you were so arrogant, that flowers bloomed for you too! You just happened to come at the right time."
Huo Qubing looked at the flower, from his face he seemed to be thinking, "Coming at the right time is very difficult, in some cases, if you came earlier everything would be different."
"One, two, three......", my head was buried between the flowers and leaves, I was counting the flower buds one by one, Huo Qubing was surprised and laughed in surprise, "How come you want to count all the flower buds?"
I counted for a while, then stopped and smiled, "In fact, if I can't count them, I'm happy, it means they have tried hard to flower."
Huo Qubing asked, "Why are they called Jinyin Flowers? I know the silver color, which is the white flower you can see now, but where is the gold color?" I smiled and said, "Now is not the time, I don't want to tell you, come in a few days and you will know." Huo Qubing smiled, "I'll take it as an invitation, I'll definitely fulfill the beauty's invitation soon." "Ah!", I said, then I said irritably, "It's you."
Suddenly he grabbed my arm, then walked out, "Tonight the sky is full of stars, I will take me to an exciting place." I hesitated for a moment, but seeing him so enthusiastic, I didn't have the heart to refuse him, without saying anything I followed him.
Because Shanglin Garden is not surrounded by walls, my view is unobstructed and I can see its splendor. I looked at the imperial palace spread out in front of me, its doors were thousands upon thousands, I swallowed my saliva and said, “In Shanglin Garden there are thirty-six palaces, which palace are we going to?”
Huo Qubing laughed and said, "It turns out you are brave and don't run away scared." Annoyed, I said, "If you die, I will drag you to be a scapegoat." He glanced at my face, "Do we count as dying and living together?" I laughed sarcastically, ignoring his crazy talk.
"We will go to Shenming Platform, the tallest building in Shanglin Park, from the top we can see the entire park and most of Chang'an City. If we lie there looking at the stars it will be no less than looking at the stars in the desert. All over Chang'an "An only the front hall of Weiyang Palace is higher, but unfortunately, that palace is the emperor's daily residence, the guard is very tight, we can't go there tonight."
Can see everything? Is your eye view completely unobstructed? My heart tingles. He invited me to jump over the wall and climb onto the roof ridge, all the way safely to the Shenming Platform. Firstly, because no one lives here, and secondly, because there are no valuables inside, there are no guards, only soldiers who occasionally patrol.
In the middle of the darkness, Huo Qubing and I crawled up the stairs, but before we reached the top, two voices were heard from above, we both stopped walking, in a whisper, Huo Qubing cursed, "Whose bastard is that?"
I turned around and smiled, "Are you the only one allowed to come here? Since there are other people, let's go back!" Huo Qubing said, "You find a place to hide, I'll see who that bastard is and chase him away." I wanted to pull him away, but he had already jumped forward.
What a dictator! No wonder people in Chang'an dare not offend him. I looked around me, when I was about to hide behind the window, Huo Qubing had landed by my side without a sound, then immediately grabbed my hand and asked me to come down, in surprise I asked, "Who was there at the top, for you to come down fluttering like this? ?" He said blandly, "Emperor."
Covering my mouth I laughed, then said quietly, "It turns out he's the emperor bastard". Even though he glanced to warn me, a smile appeared on his face. I waved his hand, then walked forward "Let's go have a look".
"What's so good about it? If you get caught I won't help you", Huo Qubing said, his body not moving. I waved her arm while pleading in a low voice, “Voices can't easily be heard in the corner of the wall where the emperor is, let's go listen. Huo Qubing glanced at me, sighed, then pulled me up without saying anything.
Sure enough, Li Yan was here too. Under the starlight that filled the sky, Li Yan was sitting on Liu Che's knees. Liu Che covered Li Yan tightly with a robe, but he himself was carelessly sitting on the floor. The two of them sat close to each other, for a while not saying anything.
Sticking closely to my ear, Huo Qubing whispered, "We can't hear them, but maybe we'll see......play......romance." I pinched him hard, but he hugged me tightly and suddenly bit my ear. Our bodies were both pressed tightly together, I wanted to scream and struggle but didn't dare to do it, so by groping I grabbed his hand tightly, he thought I was going to launch a move against him, even though he let me hold his hand, he mustered up his strength and acted alert. Therefore, in the end I could only swing his hand slowly, immediately he calmed down and dispersed the strength in his hand, he gently kissed my earlobe, then let go of my hand. I trembled softly, my body went limp, for a moment I was powerless. When I was able to react and was about to reply, Liu Che's gentle voice suddenly came, "Weiyang Palace is higher than this place, after you give birth and your body has recovered, we will go up there to see the entire city of Chang'an."
I quickly listened to how Li Yan answered, "Weiyang Palace is where hundreds of officials face the fujun, qieshen dare not go there." It turned out that when it was just the two of them Li Yan and Liu Che were like an ordinary husband and wife. He didn't call him Your Majesty, but husband, he didn't even call himself a servant, but a concubine. Huo Qubing who was clinging tightly behind me let out a long breath, I gently held his hand.