The wooden building was very old, and the wooden floor of the second-story attic made creaking sounds.
Ji Wen stood by the window and looked downstairs, where an ugly orchid in her forties was standing by the roadside soliciting customers, bargaining with the caravan driver for two pennies.
Yang Qixuan walked up to him with water and complained: "At least we should send a follower, Fan Yang is still far away."
"If you can't get used to it, go back to Jingzhao Prison." Ji Wen not only has bad breath, but also has a bad face.
But he also knew that it would be impossible to travel back to Fan Yang with only Yang Qixuan, so he had already contacted An Lushan's spy in Chang'an and arranged to meet at the post house.
At this time, he felt a little troublesome, how to explain it when the other party came later.
Downstairs, Old Hu Ji negotiated the price with the coachman and entered the inn. After a while, Old Hu Ji's obviously false moans started to sound.
They were downstairs. Through the cracks in the floor, Yang Qixuan could still see the woman's loose skin and the man's gray and sparse head. He couldn't help but feel sad, thinking that he was a nobleman, why did he fall into the same situation as a pariah.
But in fact, the coachman at least still had money for whoring, and he and Ji Wen didn't even have money to stay in a hotel, so they were waiting for the person who took care of them to pay.
Just as I was thinking about it, there was dust and smoke rising to the west of the official road.
"Hush!"
The horses galloped to the gate of the post house. The first person to dismount was the chief guard of the Anqing Sect.
Ji Wen was overjoyed and prepared to go downstairs to greet him, order some wine and food, and change to a guest room. But before he turned around, he saw An Qingzong coming in person, and there was another person walking beside him, which made him even more surprised.
"That's? Xue Bai!"
"What?"
Yang Qixuan was making the bed and folding the quilt. Hearing this, his expression changed with shock. He looked towards the window and quickly retracted.
Both of them had suffered great losses at the hands of Xue Bai. They hid in the attic and looked at each other, not daring to go down.
There was no way to escape. Soon, heavy footsteps could be heard on the stairs, and then someone banged on their door. There was a loud bang and a cloud of dust, as if the building was being demolished.
"Mr. Ji, come out."
Ji Wen smacked his lips and did not dare to respond. He turned around and saw that Yang Qixuan had shrunk to the bottom of the bed, shaking his head at him with a look of horror on his face, indicating that he did not dare to go out.
Thinking that the person who came was An Qing Zong, who could be considered one of his own, Ji Wen calmed down a little and opened the door of the house before it was knocked down.
"Da Lang is waiting for you downstairs. Mr. Ji, please invite me."
"yes."
Ji Wen was loyal and did not betray Yang Qixuan. He went downstairs alone and saw Xue Bai and An Qingzong sitting at a small table, talking leisurely.
Upon seeing him, An Qingzong immediately asked: "How did Mr. Ji escape?"
"I...I bribed the officials of Jingzhao Mansion and escaped."
An Qingzong shook his head when he heard this, turned to look at Xue Bai, and said, "He said he escaped."
Ji Wen quickly changed the subject and said: "Da Lang, how can you associate with this son? He has always wanted to harm the prince."
"No more." An Qingzong said with a firm tone, "Xue Lang will soon reconcile with Grandpa and work together to contribute to the Tang Dynasty."
"But he is good at deceiving people, don't let him deceive you." Ji Wen thought of his experience of being deceived by Xue Bai, and his tone was sincere.
Xue Bai was too lazy to answer his questions and asked, "You said you escaped?"
"Of course."
Xue Bai then smiled slightly.
This smile immediately made Ji Wen nervous. He realized that his lie was about to be exposed. If they knew that he had taken refuge in Yang Guozhong, his life would be in danger today.
He finally knew what Xue Bai was here to do, to take his life. And the method was very simple, just expose him in front of Anqing Zong.
Just as he was panicking, An Qingzong spoke.
"Mr. Ji, please stop lying. The reason why you were able to get out of Jingzhao Mansion Prison was because Xue Lang and I put pressure on Yang Guozhong."
"Is this...is it?"
Ji Wen thought about it again and suddenly understood. It turned out that Yang Guozhong felt the pressure and had to let him go, so he bribed him in turn.
In this way, could he have received favor from Xue Bai?
The hatred of killing his son was irreconcilable, but he would not let go of the past festivals just because Xue Bai cooperated with An Lushan.
"We are here today because we have something to tell you." An Qingzong said with a straight face and a much more serious expression: "I already know about your rape of women in Chang'an and I don't like it very much."
"Yes, yes, I know I was wrong."
"If it weren't for Xue Lang's intention to express his sincerity to Grandpa, I wouldn't want to save you."
Ji Wen looked embarrassed and bowed his head to listen.
I thought it was just a lesson from An Qingzong, but I didn't expect that after An Qingzong finished speaking, he looked at Xue Bai and motioned for Xue Bai to say a few words as well.
Xue Bai was not polite and said calmly: "I have changed my attitude towards An Lushan. I do not want to support his treacherous behavior, but I hope that he can be loyal to His Majesty and His Highness. I agree to let you return to Fan Yang, but I do not want to support him."
I condone your past evil deeds, but let you tell An Lushan and be more honest in the future."
These words were very harsh, but they were not suitable for Xue Bai to say. His status and past relationship meant that his criticism would only be counterproductive.
After hearing this, Ji Wen, instead of wanting to change his ways, thought that he must persuade An Lushan to rebel, or at the worst, persuade An Lushan to get rid of Xue Bai.
He responded, respectfully listening to the instruction, and secretly cursed in his heart: "You deserve to be killed, Zhu Zi, did you run out of the city just to show off?"
Fortunately, after teaching him a lesson, Anqingzong arranged for an entourage to escort him to Fan Yang.
"Da Lang, please allow me to explain in detail." Ji Wen accepted the expense and led An Qingzong aside to whisper.
As he got closer, a smell of bad breath came out of his mouth. An Qingzong almost fainted from the smoke and took two steps back. Then he heard Ji Wen step forward and say something.
"Xue Bai is cunning and must not be trusted. Don't let any of his people get mixed up with the bodyguards sent to me by Dalang."
An Qingzong covered his nose and responded: "Don't worry, they are all the people who have protected me since childhood."
"That's good, that's good."
Ji Wen agreed angrily, and after sending An Qingzong and Xue Bai away, he returned to the guest room, where he saw Yang Qixuan squatting half-crouched by the window and looking out, looking furtive.
"Don't look at it, he's already gone."
"They don't know I'm here, right?" Yang Qixuan asked, his voice weak.
Ji Wen sneered: "Who cares about a small role like you?"
"I have a grudge against Xue Bai. If he sees me, he will definitely not let me go..."
As Yang Qixuan spoke, he was suddenly stunned and looked out the window blankly.
Ji Wen quickly took two steps forward, followed his gaze, and saw a woman on a carriage lifting the curtain to talk to Xue Bai.
Even though they were far apart, their shy demeanor still seemed extremely touching.
"Ha." Ji Wen then smiled and said, "Is this the Ji Lanzi you have been thinking about so much?"
Yang Qixuan was puzzled. It took him a long time to come back to his senses and said through gritted teeth.
"The hatred of seizing your wife is irreconcilable..."
~~
Today, Xue Bai wanted to go out of the city to do some business, and Li Tengkong wanted to collect some herbs, so they went out of the city together. Li Jilan insisted on following her.
Just now, they also followed Xue Bai to the post house to rest for a while, and then entered the lobby, but they heard someone in the stable nearby doing business. They were surprised and hurriedly ran back to the carriage.
superior.
As a result, Li Tengkong looked a little unnatural, lowering his head and not knowing what he was thinking.
Li Jilan quickly calmed down, lifted the curtain and looked around, and saw Xue Bai saying goodbye to Anqing Zong at the door of the post house.
Anqingzong was going back to Chang'an, and they were going to Lantian to collect medicine.
"Let's meet again when Xue Lang comes back."
"Goodbye."
Xue Bai clasped his fists, turned around and walked towards the carriage, but accidentally stepped on horse manure, so he had to walk to a big stone and scrape the soles of his boots with his feet.
"Look at Xue Lang, even if he steps on horse manure, he still looks elegant."
Li Tengkong held the medicine box and remained silent. Even when Xue Bai came to talk to her, she didn't pay much attention. She frowned slightly, as if she disliked the horse dung on the soles of his feet.
"It's still early, let's have dinner when we arrive at Lam Tin?"
Instead, Li Jilan replied enthusiastically: "Xue Lang can arrange whatever he wants. We are not hungry."
"Okay." Xue Bai still looked at Li Tengkong, but got no response from her, so he prepared to get on his horse.
"Wait for me."
Li Jilan put her head around to whisper to him, but felt that the distance was too far, so she quickly ran out of the carriage.
"Slower."
Since there were no pedals, Xue Bai saw her timid appearance and had no choice but to give her a hand.
Then she stood on tiptoes, blocked the sound with her hands, and whispered in Xue Bai's ear: "Have you met the person you arranged?"
"Um."
"But Teng Kongzi and I just went over to take a look. Isn't it that cool official Ji Wen you are seeing?"
"yes."
"But you said that the person sent to the north was a man who liked me."
Seeing that she cared so much about this matter, Xue Bai smiled and said, "Maybe he is hiding it..."
Li Tengkong looked through the gap in the car curtain, saw the slightly amused look on Xue Bai's face, and curled his lips in amusement.
This is not the expression a religious person should have.
She probably knew Xue Bai's thoughts, and she probably wanted to get closer to her after leaving Chang'an.
It happened that she saw an eye-catching scene at the Baqiao Post House today, which made her somewhat resistant to this matter.
Before dark, the carriage stopped in the mountains.
This is a small mountain on the edge of Huaxu Town in Lantian, belonging to the foothills of the Qinling Mountains.
Xue Bai walked to the carriage, knocked on it, and said, "We're here."
Li Tengkong heard his voice and immediately took Li Jilan's hand. The two of them got off the carriage as if they were stuck together.
Looking up, there is a somewhat old but well-built mountain villa in front of me.
The paint on the door is a little mottled, but there was no "squeak" sound when the door was opened. It can be seen that it is well maintained and the courtyard has a unique layout. The trees, wells, stones, and flowers are all placed ingeniously, and the ground is cleaned well.
Very clean.
Fortunately, it's not as dirty and scrawled as Baqiaoyi... Li Tengkong thought to himself.
She was not a pampered person in the past. Although she came from a wealthy family, she often went to treat poor people and did not mind the mud.
But some things are different after all.
"This was originally a Taoist temple, but later it was moved elsewhere and the place fell into disuse. So I invested in the money to buy it and repaired it."
Xue Bai introduced casually, pushed open the door between the front and backyard, led Li Tengkong inside, and said something else in a joking tone.
"I have always wanted to invite a real person with profound Taoism to preside over this place, but there has never been a suitable candidate... What do you think about taking the opportunity?"
Li Tengkong was looking at the scenery around him, a little distracted. He looked at each other, his face turned red inexplicably, and he turned his head and said, "My Taoism is not profound at all."
"Oh, I also wanted to say that this is your Taoist temple."
Li Jilan didn't say anything about this. She knew that she wasn't too dedicated to practicing Taoism, but she could hear a hint of secret affection between the two of them.
But in such an atmosphere, Li Tengkong kept holding her hand and refused to let go.
Walking through the clean corridor, there was a quiet wing in front of them. Xue Bai thoughtfully made arrangements for each of them, including Jiaonu and Mian'er, who also had their own rooms.
"Ji Lanzi, let's live here." Xue Bai said, pointing to a small courtyard with a single family, and said: "There is also a large wing there, you can live in it if you use the space."
"I live with Ji Lanzi," Li Tengkong said.
Xue Bai seemed stunned for a moment, but didn't seem to have much reaction. He nodded and said: "That's fine, the mattresses are ready anyway."
"Where do you live?"
"Oh, I live in the front yard."
A tryst that had been planned by Xue Bai for a long time was avoided by Li Tengkong.
Everyone went back to their rooms. Li Jilan was still wondering who Xue Bai had sent to the north. She didn't see anyone missing either.
However, Li Tengkong looked at this wing room and saw that it was elegantly decorated and had a faint fragrance floating around. She walked to the incense burner and raised her hand to fan lightly, introducing the fragrance into the tip of her nose. She was sure that it was the white sandalwood she usually ordered, although it was far less fragrant than wisteria.
Expensive, but the fragrance is quiet and elegant, which can clear the mind and concentrate the mind.
"He arranged it very carefully." She couldn't help but think,
She then thought about her resistance and alienation towards him today, and compared their relationship with the flirtatious couple she saw in the inn, she felt that this was a bit unfair to him.
On weekdays in Chang'an, I would occasionally find opportunities to hug him, but now that I finally went out for an outing, I ignored him.
With these thoughts on his mind, Li Tengkong could not help but find it difficult to fall asleep. After Li Jilan fell asleep, he stood up again and stood on the porch looking at the scenery of the mountain courtyard.
When she raised her eyes, she unexpectedly discovered that there was some light in the private courtyard at the back. As if she had a tacit understanding, she walked forward and pushed the door gently, and she saw Xue Bai standing under a laurel tree and looking at the scenery.
The two of them didn't say anything. He raised his hand, and she stepped forward and embraced him in his arms. Because she was in the mountains and was accidentally bumped into by others, she hugged her very tightly and was particularly devoted.
They were brought together by the mountains, and every time their relationship warmed up, they were either at the top of the mountain or living in the mountains.
"Why do you always ignore me today?"
"I'm a little scared."
"I know." Xue Bai said.
He was actually a little cautious about Li Tengkong. He didn't want to go further with her when he had just saved her family, for fear that she would feel that their feelings were not pure. Because in his eyes, she was a very pure person.
Li Tengkong could feel this kind of caring treatment, so she came over.
"I've been a bit disgusted with the world since I was a child, and I like purity. Well, I like it very much here."
"I like it too..."
The word "you" just came out of Xue Bai's mouth, but it was blocked by Li Tengkong's somewhat cold lips.
Everything after that is natural.
Although what I do is the most mundane thing, I still feel that it is natural and follows my heart.
The mountain breeze, the bright moon, the fragrance of the laurel trees, and the chirping of insects in the distance made the night quieter. Later, an oriole came out of the valley and sang softly.
Xue Bai was immersed in it, as if he had a dream, but it was clearly not a dream. He felt as if he had entered a clear pool with lotus flowers in full bloom.
He picked off a lotus flower, put it on the tip of his nose and smelled it gently. The fragrance was fragrant and clear. When he lifted the lotus leaf, he could see a white lotus root in the clear waves.
The lotus-picking girl sat on the edge of the boat, stroking her feet, stirring the water, and humming a song from the south of the Yangtze River.
The melodious singing makes people feel that the world of mortals is the best, so why should they be pure and devoid of desires?
~~
The green pond is swaying to meet the stars, and the rolling orchid is flowing into the white apple.
It should be the stockings of Luo Shenbo, and the lotus stamens are still fragrant.
~~
At night, Li Jilan vaguely heard moaning in her sleep, and suddenly dreamed of the various scenes she had seen in Princess Yuzhen's collection of books.
Even the fragrant poems are floating in my mind.
"It rained all night and the clouds roared, and the excitement was so intense that I didn't know how long it would last. The dew dropped on the peony heart, and the bones were melting and it was hard to move. The love is so heavy that I all dreamed of Hua Xu."
Li Jilan couldn't help but turn over and hugged the quilt next to her.
After rubbing her smooth and delicate calves on the soft satin for a while, she felt Li Tengkong's absence and opened her eyes in confusion.
Looking around, she opened the door and saw the moonlight all over the floor, but Li Tengkong was still nowhere to be seen.
She then rubbed her eyes and walked towards the courtyard at the back...
~~
Chang'an.
There was another night of music and singing in Xingqing Palace, and the melodious sound of silk and bamboo did not disperse until dawn.
Gao Lishi was busy serving the saint and went to rest. Finally he was able to finish his busy errands and take a rest.
He was already old and always looked at the candlelight at night. His eyes were so sore that he sat there unwilling to open his eyes and wanted to fall asleep at any time.
"Just rest in the palace and don't leave the palace."
Gao Lishi also had a residence in the palace, and it was his normal practice to stay and rest after serving the saint.
However, in such a sleepy situation, he could not sleep peacefully. After closing his eyes to rest for a while, he opened his eyes and said, "Let's go to Baisun Courtyard."
Due to the saint's vigilance towards the princes and grandsons, it was actually inconvenient for the eunuchs in the palace to go to Baisun Courtyard. However, Gao Lishi would rather take some risks and wanted to see Li Tan. He must have believed in the saint's trust in him, so he would not be too worried.
Since Li Tan expressed his support for Li Cong as the crown prince, he has been under tremendous pressure. Many people in the court scolded him for being unfilial, and secretly said that he was a weakling who was unscrupulous for profit and so on. But on the other hand, this move also supported the saint's decision.
This gave him a lot of practical benefits, and he seemed to have the highest status among the emperors and grandsons.
Li Tan was overjoyed that Gao Lishi could come in person today and quickly led him to the hall to talk.
The family leader who was responsible for supervising Li Tan stood aside and wanted to listen to the conversation between the two, but Gao Lishi glared at him and stepped back.
After making sure that there were no other people around, Gao Lishi said after careful consideration: "I have always wanted to see King Jianning. After much thought, I decided to come."
Li Tan heard the worry in his words and said, "If you have anything to say, Aweng, just ask."
"Let me ask you, why do you support the saint Yi Chu, but Xue Bai advises you?"
"I dare not hide it from Aweng, yes."
As expected, Gao Lishi asked again: "The matter of Yi Chu has been decided by the Holy Will and there is no way to stop it. It is better to follow the trend and stabilize the situation. What you are asking for is how many of King Qing's descendants do you think will happen in the future?"
The child is far inferior to you...is this what you think?"
"yes."
Gao Lishi sighed, almost sure what Xue Bai was thinking. He was just using Li Tan to consolidate the throne in Li Cong's line. When Li Tan thought that none of Li Cong's four sons could compete with him, he would jump in personally.
come out.
He was deeply worried about this. He hoped that the inheritance of the Tang Dynasty would be carried out in a more stable manner, instead of being accompanied by blood and fire every time.
After hearing Gao Lishi's sigh, Li Tan thought he was dissatisfied with his ambition, so he explained a few words.
"Ah Weng, I don't want to fight for the throne, but what Xue Bai said makes sense. An Lushan is dissatisfied with my grandpa, and he is proud of his troops and is ready to make a move. Instead of fighting for my grandpa's loss of the throne, it is better to cooperate with my uncle first.
, solved the internal and external troubles of the Tang Dynasty, and then discussed the candidates for the throne."
Gao Lishi reluctantly agreed with this statement. After coming here today and seeing Li Tan with his own eyes, he had a higher evaluation of the emperor's grandson.
He then planned to have a long talk with Xue Bai and warned Xue Bai not to deceive King Jianning. If these two young men could really go hand in hand, it would be of great benefit to the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, a person like him would not express his position easily. After confirming what he wanted to know in two simple sentences, he stood up and left.
Li Tan hurriedly saw each other off, and the two walked around the corridor. A young eunuch hurried over there. Before he could see Gao Lishi clearly, he couldn't wait to report to Li Tan.
"Sanlang, my servant finally found out that Xue Bai is really not in Chang'an and has taken Li Linfu's daughter out of the city."
Li Tan secretly inquired about Xue Bai, but was caught by Gao Lishi and felt very embarrassed.
Gao Lishi waved his hand and said: "If King Jianning has any interesting stories in the future, please tell me too."
"Yes, Aweng."
When Gao Lishi left Baisun Court, he also recruited a confidant to find out about Xue Bai's departure from the city.
The next day, the confidant bribed one of Anqingzong's grooms to get an idea of what Xue Bai and Anqingzong were doing.
Gao Lishi was not interested in business and asked, "Xue Bai is taking Li Linfu's daughter."
"yes."
"Watch and wait until they come back to see what's going on between them?"
Although he was puzzled as to why the dignified General Gao was interested in such a trivial matter, the confidants still solemnly agreed.
Then, Gao Lishi thought of something again and asked: "There is another Ji Lanzi in Yuzhen Temple, has he also left the city?"
"He's out of town too."
"Check her relationship with Xue Bai."
"You want to investigate even if you chase them out of the city? I don't know where they went..."
"check."
Gao Lishi seemed a little persistent. Even though Xue Bai had escaped from Chang'an, he still wanted to get to the bottom of some uncertain matters.
It really seems very nosy.
However, this incident was too secretive and occurred far away from Chang'an, making it difficult to verify.
In the following days, although Xue Bai returned to Chang'an, he did not bring back Li Tengkong and Li Jilan.
Before Gao Lishi could find out about this trivial matter, a major event had already occurred in the court... Feng Shenwei returned from Fan Yang.
There was no time to wait for the meeting with the saint. The first thing Feng Shenwei did when he arrived in Chang'an was to ask to see Gao Lishi, and asked to step aside and report in private.
"What happened?"
Gao Lishi knew that his godson's character should not be a person without sense of measure.
No matter how much you want to say, when you have just returned from an official mission, you should see the saint first, not him first, so as not to make the saint think that he has inquired about the situation in the court, or has received his instructions before deciding how to inform the saint.
.
Only when Feng Shenwei encounters extremely important events and cannot make the decision himself will he lose his composure like this.
After he asked, Feng Shenwei did not answer immediately, but took another look behind the screen to make sure no one else was eavesdropping.
"Grandpa, my child has been threatened. If you dare to complain when you return to Beijing, I will be cut into pieces."
"This is Chang'an!" Gao Lishi shouted angrily, "Who can attack you in Chang'an?!"
Feng Shenwei ran back in a hurry without stopping. He was still frightened. He calmed down after being scolded like this.
He then told Gao Lishi a commonplace story in a mysterious tone.
"An Lushan rebelled."
Gao Lishi's face was calm as usual after hearing this. He didn't know how many times he had heard these words.
Feng Shenwei was very anxious and said again: "Master, An Lushan has rebelled! He almost killed the child."
"If he really rebels, you will be dead by now. Don't whine and tell us what happened."
"An Lushan protected Sun Xiaozhe and supported his own troops. His generals were all unruly and encouraged him to kill me and raise troops..."
"The barbarians in the border town are a little rude, which is understandable."
"Grandpa, you always knew that he had different intentions."
"It's useless for you to convince me." Gao Lishi said, "Is this how you plan to convince the saint?"
Feng Shenwei was stunned for a moment and realized that he didn't have much evidence. He thought about it and said, "Master, do you know who I met in Fan Yang? The man who was waiting for imperial edict back then, Li Bai..."