"Your Highness Yaxing, come here to hang out in the cold lake in Lord Shen's mansion in the middle of the night."

"I thought there was nothing more boring than this king, and I didn't want to meet a girl."

"Your Highness is still on grounding, so you're not afraid of the Emperor's blame?"

"The girl also said that in the middle of the night, who can find it? The only thing that can be found is the lonely ghost." He looked at Rao Tu, her belt was lifted in the wind, and it appeared ethereal in the night fog.

He reached out and grabbed the two belts and lightly tied a bow.

Rao Tu stepped back slightly, "Rao Tu is frightened."

"Oh? I didn't see any fear in you."

Rao Tu raised her head, an almost enchanting face was close at hand, she stared at his eyes, and suddenly frowned slightly, she was horrified, and said slowly: "My lord seems to have a deficiency."

He turned his head to look at the vast lake, and asked calmly, "What's wrong with this king?"

"Your Highness has one eye and cannot see."

He was silent for a moment, then smiled slowly: "The girl is a meticulous person. You are the third person to know the secret of this king. The second person is already dead."

He was smiling when he spoke, but there was no smile in those eyes.

Rao Tu clenched the long flute in her hand, got up and said, "It seems to be Rao's misfortune."

Xiao Yanning glanced at her, "You are an extremely dangerous woman."

"The prince and the concubine have nothing to do with the concubine, and the concubine won't say a word." Rao Tu already felt a strong killing intent from the plain words.

Xiao Yanning closed his eyes and leaned against the wall of the boat, "Can you play "Bodhisattva Man"?" His voice was a little tired.

"Concubine won't."

He closed his eyes for a long time and didn't make a sound, the boat fluttered and floated until the sparks lit up on the shore of Plum Blossom Pier, and the servant girl shouted "Girl—"

He opened his eyes and stretched his waist long, like a big dream, and smiled at Ratu: "I should go too."

Rao Tu was slightly blessed, "If the lord goes ashore now, he will definitely be discovered."

"How did you find out?"

"I'm afraid it will ruin the good mood of the prince."

Xiao Yanning smiled indifferently, "Good mood, it has been ruined by the girl."

"I don't know if it can be remedied?" Rao Tu said apologetically: "The prince is a lonely soul, and the concubine is a wild ghost. You might as well talk to the wild ghost about the matter of the prince."

Xiao Yanning looked at Rao Tu with great interest, "I don't say anything deep."

Rao Tu lowered her eyes and said, "It's a reckless concubine."

Xiao Yanning looked at Youyouhan Lake and said lightly, "This king has been put into his food since he was eight years old. I ate it for three years and ruined one eye."

Rao Tu's heart skipped a beat, and she whispered: "Fortunately, it was discovered in time, and no major disaster was caused. If you don't take a closer look, no one can see that the prince has an eye disease."

Xiao Yanning walked to the bow of the boat and jumped up on a light boat.

He didn't shake the oars, but the boat swayed slowly.

Rao Tu suddenly called out, "Your Highness..."

He looked back at her, the air on his body was completely different from the laziness when he came, but with a kind of coolness that was independent from the world.

Rao Tu's hands were sweating, and she said word by word, "Danggui can... can it have a detoxification effect?"

Xiao Yanning smiled slightly, but he did not answer, but turned around with his sleeves, and the boat drew a water wave like an arrow, and quickly disappeared into the vast mist.

Rao Tu stood on the bow of the boat, the back of her clothes was wet with sweat. She knew that the most lazy and romantic fifth prince in this dynasty had just killed her three times just now.

...

Laba day, it snowed heavily.

Rao Tu and a few girls are nesting in the warm pavilion, and in the table and the treasure bottle, the cold plum exudes a faint fragrance.

The mountain ghost continued to stretch its claws into the fruit box containing the sweet confectionery, and the melon seed shells and fruit mustaches piled up into hills.

Rao Tu was reading a collection of Wang Wei's poems, and read the first two lines of "Winter Tour": "Step out of the east gate of the city and try to see a thousand miles. See, I sighed at Wang Wei's ability, and only a few sentences were extremely bleak in winter. The sentence "Red Sun Tuan Ping Lu" said that the high red sun shone on the vast plain. It was a very warm sentence, but it was cold to read. .

Liu Xing'er opened the curtain and came in. She was covered with snow flakes. She shook her clothes and said to Ratu: "The Pei family sent Yiwaweng's Laba porridge. Yang Qiangang sent another letter from Shen. The adults wrote to the girls."

Rao Tu smiled lightly, did not ask about the letter, but said, "Mrs. Pei is better?"

"The slave-girl just came from there, and it looks better than the previous days, but she still coughs badly."

The mountain ghost rolled his eyes and said, "Don't you really have tuberculosis, right? Her porridge is not uncommon for our girls to eat, and we carefully dealt with the disease."

Rao Tu said, "I want to eat Laba porridge."

The mountain ghost said generously: "It's not a big deal, it's called the mama in the kitchen to cook the best and most fragrant porridge!"

Rao Tu hummed, "Just what about Pei's porridge? It's a pity to throw it away."

"Girl, don't be so stingy." The mountain ghost couldn't stand it any longer, and persuaded: "That's just porridge, or Pei's porridge. I don't even like it."

Rao Tu smiled and said, "No one will drink it, and it will smell bad. If you throw it away, it will contaminate the water and soil of the lake. Mrs. Pei actually sent a hot potato."

Liu Xing'er took out a letter from her bosom and said with a smile, "Miss only thinking about porridge, Lord Shen's letter is still hanging here!"

"What's there to read, just throw it in the stove and melt it." Rao Tu looked at the book again and said nothing.

The mountain ghost glanced at the words on the letter, and said with a smile: "I see that the signature is the word 'Yanbing', and the girl doesn't read it?"

Rao Tu raised her eyebrows, "In that case, read it to me."

The mountain ghost opened the envelope, took out a bamboo paper with a light sandalwood fragrance, and said with a smile, "There are only three sentences."

Rao Tu sneered, "Sir Shen is really busy."

The mountain ghost coughed and read according to the bamboo: "The mission from the northern border will arrive in Beijing soon, and the holy edict ordered me to return to Beijing early, or I may arrive before New Year's Eve. How is A Rao? I heard that I have returned to the Shen Mansion Meihuawu. Recuperate with peace of mind, and don’t cause any trouble.”

After listening to this, Rao Tu laughed instead of being angry, and asked a few girls with a smile, "Listen to what letter this is, without a thoughtful word, but told me not to cause trouble?"

Several girls pursed their lips and laughed.

Shan Gui smiled and said, "Do you want to reply, girl?"

"Go back, of course!" Rao Tu picked up the pen and paper on the shore, and wrote two words lightly—don't dare, slapped it on the case with a snap, "Let Yang Qian find someone to give it to Lord Shen!"

Xia Xia helped her forehead, "Girl, the lord asked the girl how she is doing. If you respond like this, it is estimated that the lord will be angry again."

"You don't mind him, just be happy." Rao Tu said, urging the mountain ghost to find Yang Qian.

Ten thousand mountain ghosts were unhappy, and Rao Tu squinted and said, "Don't go? The snacks today will be confiscated from the future."

"Hey, girl, I'm going, can't I go?"

The mountain ghost held the sweet confectionary box in one hand and ran out with the paper in the other. After finding Yang Qian, she told him to go and reply to the letter quickly. Yang Qian looked at the fruit box she was holding in her hand, she was a little shy, and said with a shy smile, "These are what your girls like to eat, I don't eat them."

The mountain ghost frowned, "Don't eat a ghost! Did I say it was for you?" He left without looking back, leaving Yang Qian in a daze.

In the evening, when Liu Xing was cleaning the bed, she saw that Chun Xia Qiu Dong was not in the house, so she whispered to Ratu: "Girl, I went to the pharmacy to get medicine today, and I saw a very strange medicine list, from Pei's."

"Oh? You know herbal medicine, what list is it?"

"The date was a year ago, and it fell on the ground. The servant picked it up and only looked at it, and was robbed by Pei's girl's silver pot. There are several medicines on it. Although it is not commonly used, the servant knows that it can be used. evasive."

"Bizi?" Rao Tu was thoughtful. She remembered that Pei gave birth to a stillborn child that year, and her body was blue and purple. The doctor said it was caused by poisoning. Mercury was later found in the contraceptive pill she had prepared for Pei. It was a big rainy night! Shen Zhu was furious and wanted to kill her with a sword.

At that time, Mr. Pei pretended to stop the furious Shen Zhu, so he wrote the letter of divorce and expelled her from the house. On the deserted street on a rainy night, she was beaten into a coma by the family members who were summoned by Pei's messenger, and finally woke up at the mass grave outside the city. In the light and shadow of lightning, she picked up the formed male fetus between her legs and howled loudly. cry.

Only the howl of the wolf answered her wailing.

She regained her senses and said to Liu Xing: "Tomorrow, you can go and see where the dregs of the medicine she used to drink in the past are dumped, to identify what kind of medicine it is."

Liu Xing went out early the next morning, and came back after a long time to say: "Pei's medicinal dregs were poured under the roots of the jujube forest. I have seen them all. In addition to curing coughs, there are also a few flavors to treat palace cold. The warming and tonic medicine should be taken by her all year round."

Rao Tu asked: "Under what circumstances do you think people would take the pill?"

"Well, that must be because she doesn't want children." Liu Xing was firm.

"How could Mrs. Pei not want a child? She dreams of adding a baby to Shen Zhu, so as to block the voices of Youyou."

Liu Xing was refuted, thought for a while, then leaned forward and said in a low voice, "Is it a wild species? That's why you don't dare to conceive?"

Rao Tu tapped on her forehead, "Even if Pei was a bit coquettish before, but since he was righted by Shen Zhu, he has maintained his dignity and won't do such stupid things. Think again."

Liu Xing scratched her head, "I really can't think of a slave. Does she know that there will be problems with her child, so she doesn't dare to conceive?"

Rao Tu stopped talking after hearing this, Liu Xing's eyes lit up and she said in surprise, "It's not really like this, is it?"

"You said that the few warm tonics she used to treat the cold in the palace were warm tonics. Maybe Mrs. Pei knew that because of her physical problems, even if she conceived a child, she would not survive. But she doesn't Dare to tell Shen Zhu, so while taking warm tonics to recuperate in a hurry, at the same time taking child-avoiding medicines to prevent pregnancy."

Liu Xing kept nodding, "Girl, your analysis is reasonable, but... there is one thing you don't understand."

"Say."

"How does Pei know that her child will not survive?"

Rao Tu looked indifferent, "She knows."

Because she once gave birth to a stillbirth covered in bruises and put the blame on the woman named Xu Heng.

"Liu Xing, we should find an auspicious day to visit Madam Pei. Since that day Madam fell into the water, but I haven't seen her for a long time."

Liu Xing said: "She is infected with tuberculosis, so the girl should not go there."

"Well, then let's wait until Lord Shen comes back. It's not good to go and say a few words to make her mad."

Ten days later, when the envoys from the north arrived in Beijing, the main road of Jinling City was full of gongs and drums, crowded with people watching the fun.

Rao Tu, dressed as a scholar in a blue shirt and plain hairpin, was huddled in the crowd with the mountain ghosts. She saw Prince Yu riding on a tall horse, chatting and laughing with a bearded man in cross-dressing, but it was just a courtesy of the envoy who came from afar. In the words of greetings, Prince Yu had a faint smile on his face, and there was a sense of alienation in his politeness, showing the dignity and majesty of the royal family.

The mountain ghost whispered in Rao Tu's ear: "Girl, you see that Prince Yu is in the limelight, and the crown prince is hanging in the air. I'm afraid it is Prince Yu."

Rao Tu nodded: "Prince Yu does have a bright future, but..." She flashed before her eyes, thinking of the cold figure she saw on Yehan Lake.

"But what?"

"It's nothing, it's just that the world has changed, who can say for sure?"

The envoy's motorcade went far away, and the people who were watching the lively also dispersed. The mountain ghost pulled Ratu and said with a smile: "Young Master, you are so handsome. The big girls and little wives around you just now came to you. Look at it!"

Rao Tu knocked on her forehead with a folding fan, "It's not good to flatter for no reason, let's talk."

The mountain ghost glanced at the music hall next to him, and was eager to try, "Let's finally come out, do we want to go in and listen to a little song before leaving?"

Rao Tu was bored and turned to leave, but the mountain ghost held her back and said, "Girl, let's go have a look, I just saw a handsome beauty sticking out her head from upstairs and looking straight towards us. If you don't comfort her, the beauty will suffer from lovesickness!"

Rao Tu was about to knock her again, but she heard a familiar voice coming from upstairs. The man asked lazily, "Will you play "Bodhisattva Man"?"

Rao Tu was shocked, remembering that the fifth king Xiao Yanning had asked her the same way that night, she couldn't help frowning, and she thought that the fifth king was too bold, and it was enough to sneak out in the middle of the night. In the clear sky and daylight, he actually came out to visit the Loulou, he forgot. Are you still banned?

She walked into the building, and the boss saw that he was a handsome young man, and hurriedly trotted up to meet him with a smile: "Young master, come back?"

Rao Tu made a sound of "um", and said the two words concisely: "Elegant room."

The mountain ghost gave away a piece of silver, and the boss happily took it and led Raotu to a clean compartment on the second floor.

Shan Gui said: "Just now we saw the third room from the east of the second floor downstairs. There is a beautiful woman, please come over, boss."

The boss smiled and said, "You two wait a moment, I'll invite Miss Jiuge for you." Then he left the room and called someone.

Rao Tu glanced at the mountain ghost and said indifferently: "You are very familiar with the way, tell me, this is the first time you have come to such a place?"

The mountain ghost smiled and said: "Girl, the beauty here sings a little song, it is called a heartbroken, you will know after listening to it."

Girl Jiuge came gracefully with her pipa Pingping in her arms. She was indeed a beauty, but she was a little ill during her actions and had a Western style.

She bestowed a thousand blessings on Raoda.

Rao Tu leaned on the back of the chair and tapped the table with a fan in one hand. She saw that on the beautiful face at the door, there was no admiration as the mountain ghost said, but rather a cold silence that refused to give people a thousand miles. Secretly peeping at her little lady upstairs.

She glared at the mountain ghost, but the mountain ghost turned a blind eye, and it seemed that the soul was hooked away by Jiuge.

Rao Tu coughed lightly and said to Jiuge, "Please take a seat, girl."

Jiuge sat on a chair far away and asked softly, "What do you want to hear, sir, this servant will sing it for you."

"If you don't listen to the song, you can play a piece of "Bodhisattva Man" with the pipa, will you?"

Jiuge was stunned when he heard the words, and then lowered his eyes and said, "Slaves can't know the "Bodhisattva Man"."

"Oh? You can't even use such simple lyrics and music?"

Jiuge lowered his head even lower, his hands holding the pipa trembling slightly.

Rao Tu frowned, not knowing what was weird about "Bodhisattva Man", so she casually said: "If you don't know it, you won't, then just play "Spring River Flower Moon Night"."

Jiuge responded with a sound, plucked the shaft, played a few beats and started singing: "The tide of the Spring River is even the sea level—"

The pipa was loud, and when Jiuge sang "I don't know who Jiangyue is waiting for, but I see the Yangtze River sending water", Rao Tu suddenly said a word, "Break!" With a snap, the strings of the pipa among the nine singers snapped.

Jiuge was stunned for a moment, then got up and said in fear, "Young Master, forgive me!"

Rao Tu shook his head, "It's broken here, just right. This pipa is broken, so I can't play it anymore. Mountain Ghost, reward her with a hundred taels of silver."

Jiuge said in fear: "The slaves are disrespectful."

"It's okay, your technique is a bit jerky, but I like your pipa sound, it's clean. There's just one thing I want to ask."

"Sir, please speak."

"Bodhisattva, why can't you play it?"

Jiuge trembled for a while, and said in a low voice, "There are nobles here today."

Rao Tu nodded thoughtfully, "Go ahead."

As soon as Jiuge stepped back, the right wall of the box suddenly banged, as if someone from the next door slammed into it heavily, and then there was the sound of a woman's coquettish panting, and Xiao Yanning's voice was also mixed in the panting.

He asked in a low voice, "I really want it?"

What answered him was a coquettish groan from the woman, and it was obvious that he had already started to move.

The mountain ghost blushed and scolded: "Absurd and shameless!" He pulled Rao Tu and was about to leave.

Rao Tu just got up when there was a loud bang, the wooden wall actually smashed to the ground, and a disheveled woman fell in with the collapsed wooden wall.

The woman screamed miserably, but there was no painful expression on her face, but a kind of unbearable desire.

Obviously, the man evacuated from her as soon as he entered the alley, because of this sudden change, she was not satisfied.

Xiao Yanning stood opposite, straightened his robe, and sighed, "Is this wall too weak?" Seeing Rao Tu, who was disguised as a man, she didn't seem to recognize her, and said with a smile, "You handsome son, Come to listen to the music too?"

Rao Tu coughed a few times and clasped her fists: "Your Highness, go ahead and leave."

Xiao Yanning raised his chin to the woman on the ground, "Go out."

The woman seemed a little reluctant, but didn't dare to touch him, got up and limped out.

Rao Tu smiled and said, "Then I'm leaving too."

Xiao Yanning grabbed her arm, and a charming voice sounded, "If Shen Zhu knew you came to Hualou, how would you feel?"

Rao Tu swallowed her saliva, "I really didn't know it was Hualou, I thought it was a place to listen to music seriously."

Xiao Yanning "Oh?" with a smile, "So the girl is so innocent?"

Rao Tu shook her arm, did not break away, smiled and said, "My lord, let go first."

Xiao Yanning squinted her eyes and watched her for a long time, watching Rao Tu up and down.

"Isn't Wang Ye grounding? Why did he run out again?"

"Don't even think about threatening this king with this matter. The envoy from the North has entered the capital, and this king has been released from the ban."

"Oh, that's really congratulations to the lord."

"Are you following me?"

"The lord really thinks too much, but the concubine doesn't dare."

He snorted, and with a smile all over his face, he pressed Ratu against the wall and said slowly, "Miss Rao, doesn't she like this king, right?"

With a soft voice and warm breath blowing on Rao Tu's ears, she shrank her neck and said embarrassedly, "Your Highness is really worrying too much."

Xiao Yanning wrapped her in his arms and looked at her for a while before slowly saying, "Miss please."

Rao Tu got out from under his arm, grabbed the mountain ghost's hand, and hurried away.

Xiao Yanning stood on the window rail, looking at the slender back running on the street downstairs, a playful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, "This king, is it really that scary?"

Rao Tu ran back to the Shen residence panting, only to see Liu Xiner looking anxiously in front of the residence, "Girl, you are back!"

The mountain ghost has a kung fu, and does not feel tired at all after running, but Rao Tu is out of breath. Hearing Liu Xing'er say this, she wanted to ask, but couldn't say a word.

The mountain ghost did it for her, "Why, wait for the girl to eat? We won't eat, the girl is afraid that she is already full of nausea."

Liu Xing'er stomped her feet and said, "What to eat! Lord Shen is back, waiting at Meihuawu!"

Rao Tu and the mountain ghost looked at each other, both of them were not afraid of the sky and the earth, and there was a bit of panic in their eyes.

Rao Tu pulled Liu Xing'er: "Did you bring my clothes?"

Liu Xing said: "Sir Shen is sitting in the girl's room. I can't take it even if I want to. I told Xiao Quanzi to secretly go to Buzhuang to buy it. I haven't come back yet!"

"How long did Master Shen wait?"

"It's almost an hour..."

Rao Tu took a fan and knocked on the forehead, for an hour... She could imagine Shen Zhu sitting in her room with a stinky face now.

"No, let him wait any longer, the consequences will be more serious than wearing this dress."

She took Liu Xing by boat and returned to Plum Blossom Dock. After reaching the shore, she trotted all the way to the warm pavilion, and jumped into the house with the corners of her skirt in a hurry. It was a very peaceful and tranquil picture. Shen Zhu held the "Old Tang Dynasty" that she usually watched book", half-lying on the bed lazily.

Wearing a white jade robe, he looked very focused when reading, not as stinky as Rao Tu thought. But when he turned his head to look at Rao Tu, he still frowned as Rao expected.

"What are you wearing?"

Rao Tu rushed towards him with a smile, "Shen Lang, you're back!"

Shen Zhu stretched out his arm, pushed her a foot away, looked her up and down, and frowned more and more deeply.

Rao Tu smiled and said: "This is the old clothes of Shen Lang. I think it's a pity to put them on. You don't wear them, so you asked the girls to make them smaller. Do you think I'm not wearing the right clothes?" Shen Zhu looked.

Shen Zhu was cold and silent.

Rao Tu said pitifully: "If you don't come back, I'm wearing your clothes and smelling you, so I can feel at ease. If Shen Lang doesn't blame me for this, right?"

Shen Zhu pulled her to lie on his lap, looked into her eyes, and said slowly in a low voice, "Miss me?"

Rao Tu shuddered, and she suddenly remembered the voice of Xiao Yanning she heard in the Loulou—"I really want it?"

The two seem to have the same effect.