Before dawn the next day, Wu Chengsi got dressed early, had breakfast, and arrived at the imperial city before midnight.
It took a whole morning to select a general and 4,000 elite soldiers from the right guard army, and organized them into the Western Army.
As a result, more than half of the Western Army was formed, reaching 30,000 troops.
After a quick lunch at the military camp, we returned to the palace and went straight to Liu Lanshuang’s ‘Xinglan Courtyard’.
He planned to take Liu Lanshuang out for boating, listen to a play, and develop a relationship before having sex in the evening.
However, I stood outside the door of Xinglan Courtyard and knocked on the door for a while, but no one opened the door.
After thinking for a moment, he opened the door and went in.
Walking on the path beside the apricot blossom forest, Wu Chengsi felt more and more strange in his heart.
Liu Lanshuang is different from Xu Wenqing. There are more than a dozen maids in the courtyard.
But along the way, I couldn't see anyone.
When we arrived at the house, red lanterns and red satin were all decorated on the eaves and corridors. It was extremely festive, but there was still no one around.
Enter the lobby, pass through the ear door, and follow the corridor to the sleeping hall at the back. When you enter the hall, your eyes can't help but shine.
This dormitory is exquisitely decorated, with a piano stand on the left and a dressing table with dragon and phoenix patterns on the right.
Next to the dressing table is a large screen with a picture of a general on horseback.
Every corner of the house is covered with light blue Western carpets, and four different types of porcelain are placed in the four corners.
The room was quiet, the quilts on the bed were neatly folded, and there was a faint fragrance exuding in the room.
Wu Chengsi slowly walked to a low table and found a piece of paper on it with a row of beautiful small characters written on it.
When I looked closer, I saw it was a poem.
"The cold autumn light of silver candles paints the screen, and the light fan blows at the flowing fireflies.
The sky is as cool as water at night, sit down and watch Altair and Vega."
There was a hint of resentment in the poem, and Wu Chengsi felt slightly happy after reading it.
This shows that this noble lady of the Liu family is still very satisfied with her husband, otherwise she would not have written such a poem.
At this moment, a voice came from outside the door.
"Daughter, has His Royal Highness the King of Zhou told you that he will come to the Liu Mansion to pay New Year's greetings on the first day of the year?"
Wu Chengsi was startled: "This voice belongs to Liu Qixian, why is he here? There must be Miss Liu beside him."
Being bumped into by two people at this time was a bit embarrassing.
He hesitated for a moment and hid behind the big screen.
As soon as he stood still, he thought again: "I came in openly and openly. I came to the dormitory because there was no one in the courtyard. Why hide?"
When he was about to go out, he heard Liu Qixian say again: "I knew you didn't ask. Forget it, let's not mention it for now. I'll tell you what you did after entering the palace. How did you do?"
Wu Chengsi was startled, retracted his feet, and listened attentively.
Liu Lanshuang waited for a while before saying: "There is no progress."
Liu Qixian frowned and said, "You have to take this matter to heart. As a father, you must not betray His Majesty's trust."
Wu Chengsi's thoughts were racing and he thought: "Could it be that Li Zhi had some purpose in marrying the Liu family daughter to me?"
Liu Lanshuang asked: "How are you doing, sister?"
Liu Qixian sighed and said: "Her environment is more complicated than yours. It is difficult to meet her in the deep palace. Why don't you go see her more often when you have time?"
Liu Lanshuang asked: "Did His Majesty treat her badly?"
Liu Qixian smiled bitterly and said: "Don't mention anything, your Majesty has never been to her palace since she entered the palace."
After a pause, he asked: "Daughter, have you and King Zhou already slept together?"
Liu Lanshuang didn't answer.
Liu Qixian sighed repeatedly and said in a hoarse voice:
"Alas, alas! It's all my fault. I should have rejected His Majesty's proposal in the first place. You two are now being ignored. I'm sorry for you!"
Liu Lanshuang said softly: "Father, don't think too much, he and I... have already slept together."
Liu Qixian said happily: "That's good. How is your relationship? Is he treating you well?"
"he treats me well."
Hearing Liu Lanshuang's answer, Wu Chengsi felt very uncomfortable. She said this because she was obviously afraid that her father would be worried and buried the pain in her heart.
After a while, Liu Qixian said: "Daughter, please remember to pay attention to something. If the King of Zhou talks to you about attacking the Japanese country, you should gently persuade him to give up his idea of attacking the Japanese country."
"Father!" Liu Lanshuang said with dissatisfaction in her tone.
Liu Qixian hurriedly said: "As a father, you don't have to persuade him directly, but when he mentions it, you can just give him a few words of implicit advice."
Liu Lanshuang said, "I won't persuade you." Her tone was very firm.
Liu Qixian said earnestly: "Daughter, now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, the treasury is empty and there are many places to spend money. Instead of using it to attack other countries, wouldn't it be better to use it on people's livelihood?"
Liu Lanshuang said: "If we don't solve the Japanese problem, they will cause even greater damage to the people's livelihood along the coast!"
Wu Chengsi was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect that Miss Liu could be so knowledgeable.
Liu Qixian disagreed: "It's not as exaggerated as what you said. At most, it's just a harassment by dozens or hundreds of people. The Zhechong Mansion along the coast can handle it."
"No. If we kill the Japanese and send the Tang envoy, they will definitely take revenge. They may be preparing for war now. We must not let it go."
"Soldiers are the most important weapon of the country. How can we touch it lightly? Forget it, I won't argue with you. If you don't want to persuade me, just don't persuade me. But you can't forget that matter."
Liu Lanshuang nodded.
Wu Chengsi thought to himself: "What on earth is he talking about? Could it be that Li Zhi asked them to monitor me to see if I have betrayed the emperor?"
Liu Qixian added: "Tonight's royal banquet, when you meet your sister, remember to tell her that His Majesty loves Concubine Ashina the most, so she must not offend that concubine."
Liu Lanshuang said: "My little sister has a weak temperament. Even if she doesn't say anything, she won't take the initiative to offend others."
Liu Qixian said with a worried look on his face: "You don't know how unruly that Turkic woman is, so you should just tell her something, otherwise I won't be able to rest assured."
Liu Lanshuang agreed.
Liu Qixian seemed to be full of worries, and sighed again, saying: "Luke Liu has recently passed away from a serious illness, I'm afraid he won't be alive for a few days."
Liu Lanshuang said: "Birth, old age, illness and death are natural phenomena. Why should my father look for trouble?"
Liu Qixian smiled bitterly and said: "I'm not worried about this. I'm worried that after his death, the position of Zhongshuling will definitely cause a fight between the DPRK and China, and I'm afraid it will cause trouble."
Liu Lanshuang did not answer the call.
"Okay, my father knows that you don't like to get involved in court affairs, so I stopped by while I was away from the palace to have a few words with you. As long as you don't forget to ease the relationship between the King of Zhou and the Emperor, nothing else will matter.
It’s up to you to take care of it.”
Wu Chengsi suddenly realized that Liu Qixian's confession about his daughter was to ease the relationship between him and Li Hong. It must have been Li Zhi's last words to him.
Miss Liu nodded.
Liu Qixian stood up and suddenly said: "By the way, when I came in just now, I saw Hui Bao and Qin Bao rushing in and out. What were they doing?"
Liu Lanshuang said: "My daughter asked them to bring some flowers and plants from home and plant some in the yard."
Liu Qixian laughed and said: "Okay! The fragrance of flowers and the water pavilion are the most pleasant. I will build a pool behind the yard so that when King Zhou comes to your place, he will linger and be enchanted."
"If father talks nonsense like this again, don't come here again!" Liu Lanshuang's voice was filled with shame and anger.
Liu Qixian hurriedly apologized and smiled, his voice gradually fading away.
Wu Chengsi tiptoed out of the dormitory, poked his head outside, and when he saw no one else, he was about to run out quickly.
Suddenly, a clear voice was heard.
"Hey! Don't run away!"
Wu Chengsi was startled and quickly turned his head, only to see Hui Bao chasing a black cat in the corridor.
It's Gu Feng's black girl.
A few days ago, he came to the palace to pay a visit and wanted to return to Hei Ji. However, he found that Xu Wenqing was reluctant to leave Hei Ji, so he changed his mind and gave Hei Ji to her.
This black cat has designated the palace as its sphere of influence. In the past few days, it has discovered that a group of strangers have lived in the territory, so it often comes to Xinglan Courtyard to spy on them.
Every time he is discovered, he quickly escapes and never gets close to these strangers.
After An Bao chased the black cat and left, Liu Lanshuang came back. Wu Chengsi had no choice but to retreat behind the screen.
After Liu Lanshuang entered the room, she sat at the table without saying a word, resting her hands on her chin, as if she was thinking about something.
Wu Chengsi glanced at her back quietly, secretly anxious in his heart, hoping that someone would call her out.
After a long time, Anibao suddenly entered the house panting and said, "Ruren, that cat is here again, but it's a pity that I still couldn't catch it."
Liu Lanshuang was silent for a long time and said: "Since it doesn't like to get close to us, just leave it alone."
Hui Bao said: "Don't be discouraged. I went to find out. That black cat is raised by a maid. As long as I ask for it in your name, she won't dare not give it to me!"
Liu Lanshuang didn't say anything. Just as Hui Bao was about to persuade her again, Qin Bao suddenly entered the room and said, "Ruren, your Royal Highness is here."
Liu Lanshuang stood up and said, "Hurry up and come with me to greet you."
"No need, I came in by myself, my sister won't be surprised." A soft voice sounded, and Li Zhiying came in with several maids.
Liu Lanshuang bowed and saluted: "Meet Madam."
Li Zhiying smiled and said: "Sister, there is no need to be polite. When I just came in, I smelled the fragrance of many flowers. Did my sister plant some new flowers and plants in the yard?"
Liu Lanshuang nodded.
Qin Bao said respectfully: "Your Highness, my children have moved all the precious flowers and plants from the original mansion here."
Li Zhiying nodded slightly: "That's right." She looked around as if she was looking for something.
Wu Chengsi, who was peeping behind the screen, was startled and quickly retracted his head.
Liu Lanshuang said: "I wonder if Madam is here, do you have any orders?"
Li Zhiying said: "I saw Feng Wu just now. She said that the prince would go back to the house in the afternoon. I couldn't find him everywhere. I thought he was here for my sister."
Liu Lanshuang was silent for a while and said: "He didn't come to my place. Maybe he went to Mrs. Yang Guo's place. Madam, why don't you go there to look for him."
Li Zhiying nodded, but did not leave, looking at the piano platform.
Liu Lanshuang said: "That is a guqin. Madam, do you want to play it?"
Li Zhiying hurriedly waved her hands and said with a smile: "I have listened to my sister's piano music, but I am afraid that my piano skills are no worse than those masters in Beijing. Although I have studied for several years, I have no talent in music theory. How dare I show my shame in front of my sister?
."
Liu Lanshuang said softly: "Then I will play it to Madam."
As he spoke, he knelt down on the piano platform and brushed the strings with his slender fingers. With a flick of his left thumb and a flick of his right middle finger, the tinkling tinkling sound of the piano echoed in the hall, which was extremely elegant and beautiful.
This piece of music is so peaceful and upright that one can only feel the beauty of the music after listening to it, but it does not have the gentle, lingering emotion and intoxicating beauty of the piece that Wu Chengsi listened to that night.
After the song was played, Li Zhiying clapped her hands gently and said: "My sister's piano skills are very admirable. In the future, our entire palace will be blessed."
Hui Bao said proudly: "Our children are not only good at the harp, konghou, harp, xun, zither, six pans, but also the panpipes!"
Liu Lanshuang glared at her, and she quickly lowered her head, not daring to say anything more.
Liu Lanshuang turned to Li Zhiying and said, "If you want to learn a musical instrument, madam, you can come to me."
Li Zhiying smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll come visit you another day."
After saying that, he stood up and planned to leave.
Wu Chengsi was already impatient with waiting. As soon as he saw Liu Lanshuang sending Li Zhiying away, he rushed out of the house and walked around to the back of the dormitory.
After searching around, I found a wall against a tree. I climbed up the tree, jumped and grabbed the top of the wall.
After climbing over the wall, he landed firmly on the ground.
As soon as he landed, he looked around and met a pair of green pupils.
I saw Hei Ji lying under a tree, glancing at him lazily, then lying down again and continuing to sleep, without paying any attention to him, the master of the palace.
Wu Chengsi didn't mind either. He walked up to the black cat and stroked its soft belly.
When he wanted to touch him again, the black cat kicked his arm with his hind legs, as if to say: "Just touch him once, don't disturb this cat's sleep!"
How could Wu Chengsi listen to it? He rubbed it a few more times before standing up and walking around towards the main entrance of the yard.
When I came to the door, I knocked on the door. An unknown maid opened the door. After seeing Wu Chengsi, she said with a smile on her face: "Your Majesty, you are here, please come in quickly!"
Wu Chengsi followed the little maid into Xinglan Courtyard again. As Li Zhiying said, he smelled the fragrance of various unknown flowers along the way.
The maid led the way and shouted loudly: "The prince is coming! The prince is coming!"
When they arrived at the main hall, they saw Liu Lanshuang and a group of maids standing at the door to greet him.
"I pay my respects to the prince." Liu Lanshuang bowed.
Wu Chengsi raised his hand and said, "No need to be too polite. Today, my king has some free time, and I would like to invite you to the theater. I wonder if you are willing?"
Liu Lanshuang raised her head and looked at him carefully and said: "Since the prince is interested, I will accompany you. You can stay in the hall for a while while I change my clothes."
Wu Chengsi said: "You change into plain clothes, and we will go there incognito to avoid trouble."
Liu Lanshuang agreed.
I don't know if she was afraid that Wu Chengsi would wait for a long time, but after only a moment, she was wearing an ordinary white dress, with only a bronze hairpin remaining on her head.
Wu Chengsi secretly praised Liu Lanshuang, no matter what clothes she wore, she always had a noble temperament.
Different from the peony-like royal nobility of Princess Taiping, she is more like a cold plum, which makes people only dare to look at it from a distance, but not dare to look at it up close.
If Li Zhiying had seen Wu Chengsi staring at her like this, she would have blushed and lowered her eyes.
Liu Lanshuang was different. Not only did she look at Wu Chengsi, her eyes also shone with a quiet light.
Wu Chengsi was startled, remembering that when he first met the eldest lady of the Liu family, she looked at him with a similar look.
"Your Highness, let's go." Liu Lanshuang came to Wu Chengsi and took his left arm very naturally.
Wu Chengsi smelled a faint fragrance coming from her body, his heart warmed, and he had the urge to hug her and kiss her.
But with so many people around, I had to restrain myself.
"Concubine Liu, do you have any regular clothes that I can wear?" he asked.
Liu Lanshuang thought for a while and said: "Yes, yes, but I'm afraid that your clothes are a little too small."
"Go and try. If it doesn't work, go to the main hall to change. You can't wear plain clothes while I go out dressed like this." Wu Chengsi said with a smile.
Liu Lanshuang nodded and suddenly stared at Wu Chengsi's shoulder without saying a word.
Wu Chengsi turned around and saw a stain on his shoulder. He blew it hurriedly, then reached out and patted it. He smiled and said, "I was catching a cat in the backyard just now, and my clothes were all stained."
Liu Lanshuang nodded again and didn't ask any more questions.
Arriving at the dormitory, Wu Chengsi glanced at the low table and found that the paper on which he wrote poems was gone.
Liu Lanshuang took out a set of white men's robes from the wardrobe and carefully helped Wu Chengsi put them on. Although the clothes were a little tight, they could barely fit in.
After getting dressed, Liu Lanshuang took out a simple dark blue cloak. Wu Chengsi felt slightly strange and asked, "How come you have such clothes?"
Liu Lanshuang raised her head sharply and carefully observed the meaning of Wu Chengsi's question. Seeing that he had no suspicion, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I...I sometimes wear men's clothes when I go out."
Wu Chengsi was even more surprised and asked: "Why is this?"
Liu Lanshuang glanced at the piano platform, hesitated for a while, and then said: "I sometimes go out and... play music with others."
Wu Chengsi was very interested and said with a smile: "Since you like it, let's not go to the theater. I will accompany you to find someone else to discuss music. Aren't you good at many musical instruments? I want to hear them all."
Liu Lanshuang's eyes flashed with joy, she nodded, quickly ran to the closet, took out a piece of men's clothing, and then looked at Wu Chengsi without saying anything.
Wu Chengsi blinked and said: "You change your clothes, I am your husband, what should you worry about?"
Liu Lanshuang's face finally turned red. She silently walked to Wu Chengsi, pushed him gently, and said shyly: "Get out."
As Wu Chengsi walked away, he shook his head and sighed: "Oh, he can't even watch his wife change her clothes. What this prince is doing is really boring!"
Liu Lanshuang chuckled softly and said angrily: "Who told you not to come when we have sex? Then stand with your back to me and don't turn around!"
Wu Chengsi immediately stopped and said with a smile: "Yes!"
There was a rustling sound behind him, and after a long while, Liu Lanshuang's voice rang again: "Your Majesty, it's ready."
Wu Chengsi turned around and saw that a good-looking lady suddenly turned into a handsome young man. Not only his breasts were no longer visible, but even his eyebrows had become thicker.
Wu Chengsi pretended to be surprised: "Brother, have you seen my wife?"
Liu Lanshuang covered her mouth with a smile, rolled her eyes at him, and thought to herself: "I see him being so serious on weekdays, but I didn't expect him to have such an unruly side!"
She walked to the piano table, picked up the guqin, put it back immediately, turned around and said, "Your Majesty, let's go to the Yuchun Music Hall. I heard that Wang Bo'an will play the harp there today!"
Seeing her eyes shining brightly, Wu Chengsi smiled and said, "I am your follower today. I will go wherever you go!"
Liu Lanshuang smiled slightly, pulled him out of the dormitory, and told An Bao: "Go and get my 'Phoenix Tail Se' quickly."
Not long after, Wu Chengsi and Liu Lanshuang, with only Feng Wu as a guard, left the palace through the side door and headed towards Chongrenfang.
Chongrenfang has the largest number of music halls in Chang'an City. It is said that there are more than a hundred music halls. Anyone who loves music loves to gather here.
Yuchun Music Hall is located in the northeast corner of Chongrenfang, covering an area of four acres and is a relatively large music hall.
The three of them arrived outside the music hall and were about to go in. Suddenly, a servant at the door of the music hall shouted: "It's not good! It's not good! Liu Zixian is here!"
As if seeing a ghost, he shouted and rushed into the house.
Wu Chengsi frowned slightly. When the servant shouted, he was clearly looking at them. His heart moved and he said: "Liu...Brother Liu, can't he be talking about you Liu Zixian?"
Liu Lanshuang nodded and admitted.
Wu Chengsi asked curiously: "Why can't he tell you? Do you have any issues with this music hall?"
"No, this is my first time here." Liu Lanshuang replied, and before Wu Chengsi could ask more questions, she pulled him in.
When entering the door, Wu Chengsi noticed that the people around him looked at them with strange eyes, some were curious, some were disdainful, some were admiring, and some were gloating about their misfortune.
Wu Chengsi suddenly felt that his newly married daughter-in-law must have another side that he didn't know about.