Lei Yue Longmen

Chapter 189 Two Sleeved Cherry Blossoms

two months later.

Spring is cold.Cen Zhuo received the order from Shangfeng, and has been on vacation for more than a month, so he returned to Beijing immediately to take up his post.The position is still the left deputy capital envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.She was a little surprised and hesitant about this. According to the past, if an official takes a leave of absence before taking office, the position will be replaced by someone else, and it will not be vacant for so long.What's more, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is the emperor's eyes and ears with real power.

However, the messenger is only responsible for conveying the edict, and cannot answer her confusion.At noon she packed her luggage and planned to say goodbye to Empress Jiang.Before facing the lake, she noticed that there seemed to be a distant guest in her house, so she stood on the bank of the waterside pavilion and waited.It was March, and a few cherry trees on the shore of the lake had already bloomed. When the breeze moved, it rained sporadic flowers.When she came here, she suddenly felt lovely, bowed her head and sniffed the umbrella-shaped flower clusters, and the tranquil fragrance was particularly refreshing.Just at this time, the spring breeze passed, bringing a shower of flowers.She felt a rustling coolness at her fingertips, and with a thought, she quickly bent her right arm back, with her sleeves facing upwards, and gently lifted the side with her left hand, to embrace the spring scenery of the courtyard.

In the water pavilion hall, a woman dressed as a man is below, eloquently describing the vision and reward she provides to the opposite person.

"If the owner is willing to lend money to my northern border, my father promised that the business of Guiyun Bank will be unimpeded in my northern border. And if anyone dares to propose the idea of ​​Guiyun Bank, it will be with my Tu family. On the contrary, Beijiang will never stand by and watch."

"So, this is the reason why Erfu banned my two branch villages in Beidi?"

But instead of being indifferent, the person sitting in the north exposed her scheme with one word.

Although the subordinates are only in their twenties, they seem to be old hands at negotiating.Hearing this, he was not alarmed, but smiled and said: "The owner is overwhelmed. My father is considering that there are many bandits in northern Xinjiang, and wants to provide more protection for the merchants in the territory. Therefore, I invite the two deputy owners and the merchants to the mansion for tea. , make it clear how powerful it is, and then let it go home."

Qingyuan sneered from the side, "Miss, did you say that? Do you feel guilty? It's the first time I've heard of the protection of the old body by copying the house. Don't you think everyone else is a fool?"

Her attitude has not changed, and she still speaks softly, "Old lady, you are serious. Whether my father has good intentions will be revealed in the future. Let's not talk about the banditry in the north, just say that the court has banned Guiyun Bank one after another. No? After two or three years, I'm afraid that there are only two families in the whole country covered by the Northland. Could it be that the owner wants to wait until then to seek asylum?"

The seated person put down the lid of the teacup suddenly, and there was a "clang", which startled all the people in the audience.Especially the people under the seat, whose thoughts were disrupted on the spot by this sudden change, and were fixed in place.

Qingyuan was quite angry at first, but she felt happy when she saw this.There are really not many people in the world who can provoke my wife, and this little girl can be considered a figure.No? But, don't you? Look at who is in front of you?Can you be beaten at the age of [-]? Can you afford to provoke the people of your ancestors?How dare you use threats!Today's young people are really getting more and more clueless!

Knowing that she was going to be in bad luck, Qingyuan couldn't bear to watch it.

Sure enough, Empress Jiang cast a cold glance at the next seat, and said mercilessly: "Miss Tu, you have a lot of momentum and a good reason, but the card your father gave you is not enough. He wants Beidi You should not be greedy for other things. I, Guiyun Bank, have never lost a business, and I have a reason to credit another dime! Beidi’s business Guiyun Bank has been doing business for 300 years. We were doing it before your Tu family came. , we are also doing it after we came here. Although it is not easy to tear down and rebuild, it is not difficult, but when rebuilding the Northland, it is still not your Tu family who decides, that is really unknown!"

Tu Yunshu stood up, her face flushed as if she had been humiliated, "So, Guiyun Bank is definitely not willing to cooperate?"

"It's time for me to ask your father. There has never been a cooperation that started with coercion."

"The owner of the villa is a businessman. Why do you have to say such a terrible thing? How do you know that you won't ask others for it in the future?"

Jiang Hou smiled, and gave Xiang Ming a wink, Xiang Ming didn't even look at it? Looking at the people on the steps, he squinted and made a gesture of please.Tu Yunshu's face was ugly, "Since that's the case, madam, don't regret it!"

Qingyuan thought to herself, you'd better leave quickly, don't show your eyes here.

"Is it okay to go? Send it!"

Cen Zhu filled his sleeves with petals, and it seemed that the reception in the waterside pavilion over there was over, and two people walked over the stone bridge.The leader walked in a hurry, and his face was not good-looking, but Xiang Ming behind him was calm and composed.Cen Zhu was slightly taken aback, the other party seemed to have seen her too, his expression changed strangely.After she walked away, Cen Zhu pondered for a while, and then stepped onto the stone bridge and headed towards the waterside pavilion.

In the inner room, Qingyuan persuaded: "Madam, don't worry, children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Let's have a cup of scented tea to relieve boredom."

Jiang Hou frowned, "There must be a follow-up on this matter. I will pass on my order later, and each branch will act carefully in the near future. Don't touch the government's mold, don't stir up trouble, and behave like a man with your tail between your legs."

Qingyuan nodded in response, and then rejoiced: "Madam is still wise! Anticipating that there will be big moves in the frontier, I first moved out the main business. No major losses were caused."

She was noncommittal, and felt sensitively: "Would Yurui want it again? It's too peaceful!"

Just at this time, Cen Zhu was outside asking for an audience, Qing Yuan hurriedly called her into the room, and asked about her injury with concern.Cen Zhu answered yes, and then explained the purpose of coming, and thanked them for their caring and kindness in the past four months.

Empress Jiang asked her gently, "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Gu Qinghe? Where's that blue girl?"

"They go with? I."

Empress Jiang didn't say anything else, just nodded, "It's just right, we all sit together for dinner tonight, and I have something to announce, and I'll let you implement it by the way."

On the contrary, Qingyuan wanted to say something, but seeing Cen Zhu's deliberately avoiding expression, she had to stop.A look of regret.

Before leaving, Cen Zhuo mentioned the woman just now, and Jiang Hou said: "Do you know her?" Cen Zhuo replied: "No? I don't know her, but I have seen her several times at palace banquets. She is the second daughter of Tu Yuanshan, the Marquis of Dingguo. I heard that she is quite wise in the boudoir, but she is not a core figure in the Tu family. Is she also an old friend of Madam?"

Empress Jiang shook her head, "No? Please come here."

"Mostly it's something I asked for."

Cen Zhu said this because he wanted Empress Jiang to be on guard. Although, through these days of contact, she knew that she might not care about these things, but if the Tu family came to be unkind, it is better to be prepared.

Out of the waterside pavilion, she carefully walked back with her sleeves wrapped around her sleeves. The spring breeze blowing on her face and the cherry blossoms in her sleeves brought her a long-lost good mood, and she couldn't wait to share it.Before he reached the entrance of the hall, he heard a "crash" sound from the small kitchen, accompanied by the woman's screaming, and she hurriedly descended the steps and turned around and ran towards the small kitchen.

At a glance, I saw a woman in pink standing in front of the square stove, hopping on one foot. There was a small charcoal stove next to the stove, and a fire was still burning in the stove.A casserole for decocting medicine was broken under her feet. It should have been sitting on the charcoal stove, and the broken tiles are still steaming.The brown medicinal materials mixed with water stains flowed all over the floor, and some of them splashed onto her embroidered shoes, which were soaked.She bent her knees, the toes of her shoes wanted to touch the ground but dared not touch the ground, her face was full of pain, and she seemed to be burning.

Cen Zhu quickly ran over to help her sit on the mat, squatted down, and helped her take off the hot shoes and socks with his wrists. Seeing that all five toes were red, he blew with his mouth, "Does it hurt?" pain?"

The woman twisted her skirt and shook her head, but accidentally let out a teardrop.Seeing her like this, Cen Zhu felt his heart clenched together. He stood up and ran outside. He went to the water tank at the door and scooped up half a ladle of water. Picking up her pockets, she walked back tremblingly, splashing all on her feet.

"feelling better?"

"Ah."

"Why are you so careless? Be careful, where is Gu Qing? Why are you here to boil the medicine?"

"Miss Gu went to the street to buy medicinal materials, and asked me to take care of it for half an hour, but I even... hiss..."

The coolness on her feet passed, and she was in so much pain that she couldn't speak. Cen Zhu couldn't bear it, "Wait, I'll go get a basin."

"No?... No need..." Before she could finish speaking, Cen Zhu went straight to the back room and found the sink that he usually used for washing.Holding it to the door of the small kitchen, I finally poured two ladles of cold water into the basin, and both sleeves were soaked.But Duanpen has become a catastrophe.She tried to pick the rim of the basin with one hand, and pushed it against the other side with the other hand, but the side of the basin always picked up and slipped off, and she was so anxious that she was sweating.

And at this time, Yingrou hopped to the door of the small kitchen, hesitated for a while, and softly called: "Ah Zheng."

Cen Zhu's whole body froze, and he turned his head with a flustered and embarrassed expression.

Isn't Yingrou? I can't bear to see her like this, but I'm afraid that she will be too stubborn to think about it.Reluctantly jumping to the water tank, he asked for help, "Can you help me move Maza here?"

"You... put it in first."

"Okay." Lan Ying stretched her feet into the basin obediently, her forbearance instantly eased.Cen Zhu went to the kitchen with his wet sleeves to move Maza out.Help her to sit down.

Yingrou grabbed her hand, pulled her to squat down, helped her wring out the water in the sleeve, and rolled it up slowly.Suddenly, the movements of her hands froze slightly, and she saw the remaining petals of cherry blossoms rolled out of Cen Zhuo's sleeves, which were almost twisted into crumpled shapes.

She stared for a long time, "This is..."

"Cherry blossoms. The ones that grow in front of Madam's waterside pavilion. The first branch in spring. I look cute. Originally, I wanted to bring you... and Gu Qing, each with a sleeve. It's a pity that they are all broken."

There was a tender wave in Yingrou's eyes, "It's okay, I like it very much, give it to me, is it this sleeve?"

"If you want, I'll give you both sleeves. Anyway, Gu Qing isn't here."

Ying Rou hesitated slightly, thoughtfully, "But won't she be angry? You send flowers to other women?"

Cen Zhu was startled, but thought of another person, and then turned his face away so that the person could not see her expression.

"No? Yes. She won't care."

Gu Qing and Wu Jingchai went to the streets to buy medicine and returned in the evening.I went straight to the small kitchen to see how the medicine was cooking, but I saw a mess all over the place, with broken casserole tiles everywhere.

Wu Jingchai strode too far, stepped on a piece of broken porcelain, almost slipped and fell, and was about to explode: "I..." Touching Gu Qing's frowning brows, he swallowed back abruptly, turning into disgust: "This is Who is it? It doesn’t matter if it’s broken? If you know how to clean it up, just put it there, what a hindrance! Do you think it’s Gu Qing?!”

Gu Qing ignored him, walked around the small kitchen, but did not see Cen Zhu.Only a puddle of water can be seen in the water tank.Putting down the medicinal materials, he went to the main room. Before entering the door, he heard soft voices coming from the room,

"Ah Zheng, do you still remember that one year, you also limped like this, and came to visit me in Youwu Garden."

"Hehe, remember, the walls of your courtyard are high and difficult to turn over. I took the risk of turning it over once, but I didn't take half my life. I was almost killed by your guards. Sit down quickly, I will push the basin over, and I have to soak it again." An hour."

"Yeah, I was terrified that time. If I hadn't just come back...I'm afraid now when I think about it."

"Okay, okay, don't be afraid, it's all over. Didn't I then? Is it okay? And the more I climbed, the more proficient I was, and I was never caught by the guards again."

"That's why I said hello beforehand, otherwise you... hum!"

"In that case, I would like to thank Miss for her kindness."

"As long as you know."

A long-lost brisk tone lingers between the two reunited people after a long absence, and every bit of the past is rewoven.Formed an unreachable net.

Gu Qing hadn't heard such brisk laughter for a long time, the cheers from the small kitchen were all real and deep-seated, she couldn't help but deny it.It turned out that even if it was someone else, that person wouldn't be her.She will never be able to give that kind of heartfelt joy.

"Actually, Zheng, sometimes I really want you to be more aggressive with me!"

"What are you thinking about with your little head? Don't you think I'm going to kill you? Aren't you afraid?"

"You are fierce, do I represent you? See out with me. Just like Miss Gu."

Cen Zhu didn't answer, but fell into deep thought.