Zhou Zhan raised his eyebrows, held up her chin with a folding fan, and said frivolously: "Young lady looks good, I wonder if you have an engagement?"
Shen Moran gave her a blind expression, and both of them couldn't help laughing.
"Take the back door."
Zhou Zhan took her hand and led her out quietly through the back door, avoiding the guards in the house.
Stepping out of the gate of the palace, Shen Moran felt the smell of freedom in his breath. The doors of every family living in the imperial city were open, and there was an endless stream of people coming to pay New Year's greetings.
There is no need to bring gifts for normal social interactions and New Year greetings, but there are often more exceptions than the normal situation. Carriages pulling gifts can be seen everywhere on the street passing through each house to visit.
Respectable hosts will entertain people who come to pay New Year's greetings with drinks, and some even don't have tea, which is very powerful.
For example, the Admiral's Mansion.
Si Yiluo saw clearly from Wangyue Tower that those who came with gifts and those with small gifts would be kicked out in disgust, but even so, there were still people queuing up to deliver them inside.
Looking at her mansion opposite, there are also a lot of people. Many people are queuing up here, and the servants are waiting in line over there to give gifts at both ends.
Afraid of being seen, Si Yiluo closed the window and turned back to Wei Heyan, who was lying on the cushions. of."
Wei Heyan picked up a grape and threw it into his mouth, spit out a mouthful of skin, and pointed his fingers at her.
Si Yiluo frowned, still not used to such a careless governor.
He sat up and leaned on the low table, still looking boneless.
"Three years to clear the magistrate, one hundred thousand snowflakes and silver. Outside, the sky is high and the emperor is far away. The county magistrate is the local emperor in a county. No one needs to teach you about corruption, bribery and collusion between officials and businessmen. No matter how honest an official is, he cannot withstand the temptation."
Especially for officials in the Jiangnan area, the annual salt tax is enough to feed all officials in Jiangnan from top to bottom.
That's why it seems that officials like Li Wei are rare.
"If this continues, the Zhou Dynasty will be hollowed out sooner or later."
Si Yiluo knew not to rush, but when she saw that the officials who came to give gifts gave away tens of thousands of taels of silver and gold, she really couldn't sit still.
Wei Heyan chuckled: "Our Aluo is so kind..."
The yin and yang tone made it difficult to tell whether he was sincerely praising or ridiculing. Si Yiluo held back his breath and said unconvinced: "This world belongs to the Zhou family, and you are also a Zhou family, and you have your share in the world!"
Wei Heyan sighed, picked her up and hugged her.
Sighing: "Do you think I am a good person?"
Do you think he cares about the lives of others? Everything he does is to save himself and achieve his own goals. But there are always people around him reminding him that he should be a good person.
Is he a good person?
Si Yiluo was also asking himself, in his previous life, he could bear to lie dormant and raise troops for more than ten years for the sake of the throne, and even until Zhou Yu ascended the throne, he was still arranging and closing the net.
She has seen his methods, both overt and covert.
He really can't be called a good person.
but……
"Do you know what kind of person I am?" Wei Heyan asked, "Even if you live two lifetimes, do you really understand what I think deep down?"
He stared into her eyes, and there was another side of him that only he knew.
He looked at her with hidden dark, crazy and sick eyes, and Si Yiluo was a little scared, fearing that his tenderness during this period was all fake.
Reflecting on whether she was too complacent and overconfident in front of him...
The emotion in his eyes quickly disappeared, he gently hugged her stiff body, patted her back and comforted her softly.
"Did it scare you?"
His voice was extremely gentle, and Si Yiluo responded to him with a slightly firmer tone.
"Wei Heyan, I believe you."
…
During the Chenghuang Temple Fair, vendors setting up stalls lined up along the street, and even the nearby Xingbu Yamen was tightly blocked.
There were so many tourists that they would be dispersed if they were not careful. Zhou Zhan held Shen Moran's hand tightly and squeezed out a way. The female dancers on the stage sang and danced their sleeves in a traditional Northern style. The singing style of the song is also an old-style opera.
There are too many people on the street, and there are also many people making noises to see the beautiful actress. Shen Moran likes to watch the show quietly,
But the first time she watched a play on the street like ordinary people gave her a sense of freshness. After watching it for a while, she realized that Zhou Zhan's mind was not on the play. She followed his line of sight and saw someone playing acrobatics not far away.
"Let's go over and take a look!"
There were many stalls selling antiques on the street. Zhou Zhan squatted in front of the stall and picked up a plum vase and looked at the seal on the bottom of the bottle.
"This young man has good eyesight. This is an object from the palace of the former dynasty. There are only a few hundred pieces of white porcelain fired from Ru kiln handed down from generation to generation. Most people don't know the goods and think this plum vase is thin. You can try it. Listen to this sound, it sounds like a chime..."
"Look at the appearance of this bottle..."
The vendor had little education and could not describe the elegance of the bottle. He did put a lot of effort into making this plum vase, but it was not a real white porcelain.
Zhou Zhan only looked at it twice and then put it down.
He pointed to his wallet and waved his hand to the hawker. Without money, he couldn't do business. The hawker's eyes fell on Shen Moran and tried to persuade him.
Zhou Zhan blocked the vendor's view, held her in his arms and moved her to the side, for fear of encountering something and getting sued.
Shen Moran looked at his skill and asked curiously: "Have you been bitten by a snake?"
After the embarrassing incident was discovered, Zhou Zhan rubbed his nose and said vaguely: "It was just a novelty when the mansion was first established, so I got tricked. It's nothing. Let's continue shopping..."
The people around them were chuckling, and the two of them didn't feel tired after shopping all day. They rested for a while in a nearby inn, and then went straight to the lantern festival.
You can see Long Yan at the Meridian Gate Lantern Festival. Many people queued up early before it got dark, but when the two of them arrived, there was already a sea of people in front of the house.
"I wonder if my cousin is here..."
Zhou Zhan protected her and moved to the side to avoid the crowd.
The lights have been turned on, and the colorful lanterns are dazzling.
Chang Jinchan and Zhou Fu were squeezed into the crowd, feeling uncomfortable in their chests.
"Uncle Fu, this is my first time watching the Lantern Festival down there. When I was a child, my grandfather always took me to watch it at the palace gate."
There were many people at the palace gate. She held her mouth and touched the purse hanging on her waist, exclaiming: "Uncle Fu, my purse seems to have been stolen!"
Looking around, there are people everywhere. Where can I see the thief who stole her purse!
Without paying attention, Chang Jinchan's shadow disappeared from Zhou Fu's eyes.
"Miss Cousin!" Zhou Fu searched around and shouted to the guards scattered around, "Miss Cousin is missing, find someone quickly!"
"Fu Bo!"
Chang Jinchan was squeezed by the crowd and rushed in another direction. Several wisps of bright smoke burst into the night sky and burst into brilliant fireworks. Chang Jinchan's voice was drowned in the sound of fireworks.
Zhou Fu squeezed over but never saw her again.
"Miss Cousin!"
Chang Jinchan felt suffocated. Seeing that she was getting further and further away from Zhou Fu, all the guards around her were scattered. She felt someone coming from behind. Her experience in martial arts made her kick back suddenly.
There was an ouch behind her, and she kicked someone. When she turned around, she found another man holding a sack and preparing to put it over her head.
"If you dare to set a trap for my aunt, do you know who my aunt is?"
Taking advantage of the difference in strength between men and women, the two tried to be tough, but she kicked them away.
Seeing the two men running away in a hurry, Chang Jinchan clapped her hands and snorted proudly. Suddenly she felt a pain in the back of her head, and she lost consciousness and fell forward.