Qin Liang, wearing a hat and cloak, drove the carriage alone, preparing to return to the courtyard in Lejin. There were only shadows on the road, and only the inner wall with double broken eaves on the east side was bathed in the winter sunset.
The air was very dry, the branches were bare and gray, and the sunset that was about to set was very saturated. Even though he was in Luoyang, he felt a bit desolate at this time.
Before entering the inner gate of Lejin Village, Qin Liang's carriage was stopped by a woman wearing a robe and a curtain hat. Qin Liang immediately recognized her as Mrs. Zhen, so he drove the carriage to the corner
, parked behind Zhen’s car.
Qin Liang jumped out of the car from the front, turned around and glanced at Zhen, and walked up to the tailgate of the carriage first. After a while, Zhen also walked up, and then took off the curtain hat, revealing a fair face with melon seeds.
Mrs. Zhen said: "I made a mark yesterday at the Earth Temple. Didn't you see it?"
Qin Liang nodded and said: "I was here in Lejin yesterday, and I just went to the Wang family residence this morning. I had something on my mind and didn't pay attention."
Mrs. Zhen pondered for a moment and said softly: "The lady has something to do and is unable to make the trip. I wanted to go to the yard by myself at noon today to avoid Jun waiting in vain. But because the location is next to the Guo family's residence, I was afraid that I would sit in front to catch the car.
, I met an acquaintance and recognized him, so I had no choice but to come here and wait."
The last sentence may have been Empress Dowager Guo's idea. The more trouble comes, the more careful she becomes.
"Are you angry?" Mrs. Zhen observed Qin Liang's face.
Qin Liang did not show any emotion and said calmly: "It was originally to repay Mrs. Zhen for her help. We just need to do our best."
Mrs. Zhen said softly: "After all, we have prepared so much, let's just wait a little longer. Last time you said you were going to Guanzhong, so you can rest assured about your military plan. If you accomplish something, you will be more respected by the world. The lady also said, wait for you
How about we make a secret appointment to meet you after you return from your service?"
"Okay." Qin Liang nodded and said, "It's inconvenient to say more here, so I'll take my leave now."
Qin Liang went home to change his clothes, and then asked Rao Dashan to drive out, so that he could catch up with the family banquet held in the front hall of the Wang family's residence.
At today's family banquet, Wang Guang did not ask the family dancers to perform, so everyone had more time to talk. There were a total of ten people at the family banquet, three adult men, besides Qin Liang, they were Wang Guang and his fourth brother Wang
In Mingshan, the remaining people are women and children. Concubines are also considered family members. Wang Ling's concubine Bai Shi and Wang Guang's two concubines are all there.
After Qin Liang moved home, he hadn't seen Wang Xuanji for a long time. This morning he and Wang Lingjun went to the ancestral temple to worship, but they didn't meet Xuanji either. Naturally, he looked at her intentionally or unintentionally during the dinner, but Xuanji looked disapproving of him.
She looked familiar and had almost no eye contact. She must also be paying attention to Qin Liang, but she was afraid of being noticed.
Wang Guang raised his glass and said: "The general has appointed Zhongming to join the army as a vanguard in the expedition against Shu. While I have wine today, I wish Zhongming a victorious return."
Qin Liang said: "By borrowing the good words from my uncle, my son-in-law will fulfill his mission."
Everyone raised their glasses and looked at Qin Liang. He also turned to signal to his relatives, then held up the wine glasses with both hands and drank first as a gesture of respect. Everyone had wide sleeves, as if their sleeves were covering their faces when drinking.
Wang Guang asked again: "Has Zhongming determined the departure date?"
Qin Liang said: "It's already the twelfth lunar month, and I have to celebrate the new year before leaving. Probably around the fifth or sixth day of the first lunar month, I plan to leave early and go to Guanzhong to understand the real situation."
Wang Guang nodded frequently when he heard this, looked back and said: "This is like a person who is doing serious business."
Qin Liang smiled and said: "My uncle is overly praised, but the stupid bird flew first."
Wang Guangdao: "Although Zhongming is young, he has military merits. He has returned from Hanzhong with his merits. I asked your grandfather to come forward in person and give a message to the general."
Since Wang Guang took the initiative to speak, Qin Liang did not refuse clearly and only said: "I hope I can make some contribution to this campaign."
Wang Guang was toasting just now, and all his relatives were toasting with him. So Qin Liang took a look at the gaps between words and slowly toasted to people individually according to their seniority. When it was Wang Xuanji's turn, Qin Liang could finally look at her directly and said
: "I heard from your Majesty that I am a very nice person to get along with. Please move around more in the future."
Bai Shi glanced slightly sideways.
There was no change in Wang Xuanji's expression. She just looked at Qin Liang and smiled politely, then picked up the wine glass. But her face was already a little red, and it could be seen carefully that she seemed to be caused by drinking. But Qin Liang
Knowing Wang Xuanji, she and Lingjun don't get angry when drinking, and maybe she can drink better than Qin Liang. Her face turns red mostly when she is crying, but not when she drinks.
Xuanji gently covered it with her robe sleeves, and then drank a drink with Qin Liang. The wide robe sleeves covered her face, but raising her arms highlighted the black breast fabric. Qin Liang saw the bulging black fabric,
But what he seemed to see was white water waves shaking violently. He quickly calmed down. In fact, he saw Xuanji more often at night than during normal interactions, so the impression in his mind was easily biased.
At this time, Mrs. Xue said: "My aunt and my nephew have always gotten along very well. Your aunt is the closest to you. After your aunt leaves the cabinet, I am afraid that I am not used to it."
Wang Xuanji turned to look at her superior, and said casually: "Without one person to talk to, it's really less interesting."
Mrs. Xue immediately said: "My sister can also have one more person who can talk."
Wang Xuanji's expression suddenly changed. In fact, sometimes she was very irritated when she spoke, but today when faced with her sister-in-law's teasing, she actually endured it and remained silent.
Seeing that she had taken advantage, Mrs.
The relatives in the front hall immediately smiled, and Bai's answer was surprisingly low-key: "That's what happened."
Mrs. Xue was not going to let Xuan Ji go, so she said apologetically: "Okay, my face is red. It's my fault. I shouldn't say such things in public. I'm still an inexperienced girl."
.”
Qin Liang listened to their chat silently, but felt a little uneasy in his heart. In fact, what Mrs.
I realized this dilemma; and now, the situation has become more and more urgent. Some things are not easy to do in Luoyang, and I must succeed in being appointed as the governor this time!
But the strange thing is that the Bai family has not forced Wang Xuanji to marry for more than a year. Wang Xuanji's parents are here, and her brother and sister-in-law must not interfere. Wang Ling probably can't care about this concubine in Luoyang giving birth to a daughter, but the Bai family should be very interested in it.
The heart is right.
Qin Liang had asked Xuan Ji about this before. Xuan Ji only said that she had comforted Mrs. Bai, but she did not say how she did it.
Qin Liang would definitely not agree to letting Wang Xuanji get married. He had cared about Wang Lingjun and Xuanji, otherwise he would not have voluntarily fallen into the dangerous situation of destroying the three clans. If given the choice, Qin Liang didn't want much power.
Being able to stay peacefully with Wang Lingjun and Xuanji, he felt that he could live a good life in his short life.
After three rounds of drinking, everyone no longer adhered to the formality of one person talking and others listening, and started chatting independently. Laughter could be heard from time to time, and the front hall was noisy.
Xuan Ji turned around to talk to Wang Lingjun. She was holding a wine glass in one hand and placed the other on the collar of her black dress. She suddenly raised her eyes and looked at Qin Liang. She looked at Qin Liang with her beautiful phoenix eyes. Qin Liang saw the position of her snow-white hands and immediately understood that there were red embroidery patterns on her black collar.
Xuan Ji has always been very careful about concealing herself in front of others, but she was so bold tonight. Perhaps it was because she hadn't seen Qin Liang for a long time and had gone through a lot of patience.
Sure enough, as soon as the dinner was over and Qin Liang and Wang Lingjun returned to the courtyard behind, Wang Lingjun quietly told him: "I will be here in the early morning."
...Tonight in Ganoderma Palace, Queen Mother Guo is doomed to toss and turn in the palace.
Queen Mother Guo actually backed down from what had been agreed upon. She guessed Qin Zhongming's mood at this time, and she was probably a little angry. She also hated herself. She had clearly thought about something, so why did she change her mind at the last minute?
A while ago, Queen Mother Guo thought very carefully, such as which eunuchs and palace maids to take with her, and she had relatively detailed arrangements in mind.
There should be a few people bribed by other families, but the status should not be high. In this way, the spies can participate in the search of the "palace", be on guard outside, and be the eyes and ears of others; but they cannot decide things, so they can only watch. Don't do anything suddenly.
It seems to be a foolproof deployment.
But the night before yesterday, Queen Mother Guo had a nightmare. The dream was quite terrifying, as if it had really happened, and the scene was very clear. In the dream, she was lying there, like when a doctor was summoned to check the pulse and only exposed the necessary parts, her posture was very It was embarrassing. Suddenly, many people she knew rushed in from outside. They were arrested and killed on the spot, exposing her most unspeakable privacy to the public. She wanted to die immediately and was totally embarrassed to face people. After waking up, Queen Mother Guo My heart was still pounding, and I couldn't calm down for a long time.
Of course she could quickly realize that the dream was fake and that it was almost impossible for something like that to happen. But when the appointed time approached, she found that she was more scared than she thought.
Probably because she stayed in the palace for too long.
When people are trapped in one place for a long time, they don't actually want to break out of the prison, but they don't dare to get out. They will fall into a state of thinking more and doing less. It's a very strange state of mind.
Night had fallen, and when this opportunity was missed, she lay on the couch and regretted it. If she had been braver today, she might have finished her business and returned to the palace safely.
Well, now you can relive those real feelings.
"Alas." Queen Mother Guo turned over and sighed quietly to the inside. Now what is left is empty and aimless waiting, wondering if there will be another chance. She put her hands over her heart, Pressing the snow-white skin, the fingers were stretched very hard, and all kinds of emotions in my heart were very strong, and my heart seemed to jump out.
Many feelings are difficult to describe, but the most certain thing is that she is very awake at the moment and cannot sleep at all.