Lou Xiliu left the house quietly today. She followed Cao Xiwan out to attend the national mourning. She had no intention of going back.
She also didn't know that Mrs. Hou insisted on going out for the sake of Song Liangdi's face even though she was pregnant with a child.
Lou Xiliu actually didn't know if she had made the right choice. She knew very well that if she left Mrs. Hou, a sister who was willing to recognize her, and even offended Mr. Hou and left the Hou Mansion, let alone what would happen to her, from now on, she would never be able to do anything again.
No one would recognize her as General Lou's daughter.
She is no longer the noble queen.
She is a girl without a father, a mother, and no relatives. At least Qing Niangzi has confused parents.
A few miles ahead, sitting in the Qingweizi car, listening to the wind and snow getting stronger outside, Lou Xiliu looked at Cao Xiwan beside him.
She was busy. According to her own words, she was busy squeezing her legs and feet every day. Because of the exertion of her fingers, her face was bright red and her forehead was slightly sweaty.
Although Qing Niangzi is sick, she is completely determined to take good care of her health and live to at least seventy or eighty years old.
Lou Xiliu remembered that she went to Baiyuan a few days ago. In the rockery cave behind the pine wall, she quietly said to Qing Niangzi: "I...I also want to see the national funeral ceremony. I want to go out with him and learn the rules and things."
.”
"Okay." She agreed to take her out.
Lady Qing didn't ask her anything.
These days, Xiliu doesn't know what he should do.
Because his wife arranged for her to be a concubine, and because Mrs. Qing no longer lives in Baihua Hall, she has no one to discuss with her. After all, her wife is her sister and the only relative who recognizes her. Xiliu felt very lonely and could only sleep in the middle of the night.
Hiding in the quilt and crying.
Until one day, the wife's confidant, Mrs. Chen, seemed to be unable to stand it anymore, and suddenly said vaguely to her in private: "How can Madam Qing know if you don't tell her? The old lady knows."
Lou Xiliu didn't understand what he meant. She thought about it for several nights and cried alone in the bed tent at night, but she couldn't give in.
She quietly left the house and walked along the long street in the snow at night in the capital, hoping to find her master Su Daojun.
Although he knew that Su Jintian would never offend Mr. Hou for her. Because the most important people in Su Jintian were his twelve younger siblings, he wanted to protect Uncle Xiao Qiao, Uncle Xiao Shuang, and Uncle Xiao Yan.
She used to hide behind the small window on the outer wall of Chengtianmen Qianhu Residence and secretly see Uncle Xiaoshuang practicing his sword in the martial arts field in the backyard.
"Elder brother!" Shen Shuangtian chased after Su Daojun and wanted to follow him to attend the national funeral.
Su Jintian asked her to come to the sword competition and she could only go if she won. In the backyard martial arts training ground, Uncle Xiaoshuang was no match at all and was beaten to a disgraceful defeat, but Su Jintian still agreed.
At that time, in the snowy night and moonlight, she was leaning against the icy outer wall of Qianhu Palace, looking at the cold moon on the palace wall's glass, and then she suddenly figured out what Mother Chen's words meant.
I heard that usually the Marquis would go to the old lady to say hello, but when Lady Qing saw the Marquis, she waved her hand and left, going straight back to her room to stay.
By the way, that's it. Lou Xiliu thought, only then will the old lady believe that Madam Qing really wants to enter the palace and does not want to stay in the house as a concubine.
Therefore, she dared to hide outside the Baiyuan, stopped the passing Qing Niangzi for the second time in the Dieluo Corridor, and took her to the rockery cave with pine walls to talk.
She hesitated and said that she wanted to follow her out.
"Okay, the funeral will be held on the 12th. Come to the west corner gate of the mansion at noon. We will go in the car together."
"...Then, do you want to report it to the Marquis? And my wife..."
"No need to report, just come." Lady Qing looked at her and smiled, "As long as you are willing, I can still handle this."
Lou Xiliu was so happy that her heart almost burst.
She must have done the right thing, right?
"Qing Niangzi, there are no villages in this area, right?" On the way to Sui Ling, the wind and snow got heavier. She and Cao Xiwan left their carts and rode horses. She and Cao Xiwan rode together.
The thin willow looked at the wasteland outside the official road in the wind and snow.
"There are only a few village houses." Cao Xiwan replied, her voice muffled. She had already pulled up her hood to cover her face, with a look on her face that said she was too weak to blow the wind, and looked at the wind and snow on horseback.
In the wind and snow, there were only the shadows of a few shabby cottages far and near.
Eunuch Lou and the young eunuchs were walking in front. The sixth son, Song Weiren, took the coachman to borrow horses from Duke An Guo's mansion in the team next to him, and prepared to drive the car back to pick up the ladies of the Hou Mansion who were in the imperial team.
He was afraid that his mother, the second wife, would not be able to bear the cold.
Cao Xiwan raised his hand and pointed to the cottage in the wind and snow in the distance, and said to Xiliu: "When Taizu built the Xiaoling Mausoleum twenty years ago, all the stones and wood in this area were dug out. Most of the people moved away as well.
.Only when we get to the Xiaoling Tomb and the cemetery forty-five miles away are there the mausoleum guardians and the royal guards who guard the mausoleum live there. There are temples and Taoist temples."
"...Then, how much does a hut like this cost?"
Cao Xiwan turned his head and glanced at her.
Lou Xiliu was worried and avoided the wind: "I...I have some savings. I don't spend it randomly. I want to buy a house to live in. I...I can endure hardship."
Cao Xiwan was slightly startled, but still turned his head and looked at her for a while, knowing what she meant.
She didn't want to go back, nor did she want to be the concubine of the Marquis.
Even her noble status as the daughter of General Zhenxi was something she was ready to abandon, and she would accept the fate of disappearing into obscurity among the crowd.
The fate of ordinary women.
Lou Xiliu thought that although she had heard Cao Xiwan say that people are determined by their determination, and after entering Biying Palace, they must aspire to be the master of Biying Palace. She was also willing to practice hard and find her own ambition.
But these days, she tossed and turned and figured out one thing.
——The world is impermanent.
Even Master Su Jintian dare not say that if he can return to Biying Palace in this life, he will definitely become the master of the Demonic Palace Beyond the Wall.
What's more, her building is Xiliu?
Perhaps, once she leaves the Marquis Mansion and loses the protection of the Marquis and his wife, she should face a life of obscurity like an ant and disappearing like dust. This is the most likely fate for her Lou Xiliu.
The life she chose.
Cao Xiwan still didn't ask any questions, and urged the horse to walk hard in the wind and snow. Fortunately, although the winter in Jiangnan this year was cold, it was still not comparable to the heavy snowfall in Yanjing City in the north.
Cao Xiwan was on horseback and said loudly in the gap of the wind: "The cottages are cheap, you don't have to worry. I am the best at buying houses. Do you know how many properties I have?"
Lou Xiliu knew that Madam Qing had a small courtyard in Shunyifang and two shops in the south of the city. In fact, Madam Qing had told her before that she had thought about buying one near Steward Zhou's house.
room.
"I'm going to the palace to recuperate. Do you want to go to the palace with me, or buy a house and be neighbors with my parents?" She turned around and added, loudly asking, but the wind blew her voice away, "My father is very annoying.
Yes, but he is lazy and would not intentionally bully others outside. My mother is big-hearted and ignorant. She does not bully others either. My parents dare to scold me."
Xiliu sat behind her, holding her cloak tightly: "I...I..." Lou Xiliu said with tears in his eyes, "I will follow you." He loudly said, "I will follow you."
"Sure." The eyes on her scarf curled up and she beamed with joy, "That's great. I'm recuperating in the palace, and I'm worried that I don't have anyone to cover my laziness. Xiuyun will beat me. By the way, that guy Pomegranate
He loves to stab me in the back and say bad things about me."
"..." Lou Xiliu thought silently, how could Madam Qing recuperate in the palace? Even she knew this rule.
The young lady will be kicked out.
On second thought, let's kick them out and live together outside. Song Liangdi can do this to move two palace ladies out of the palace due to illness.
When Lou Xiliu thought of this, he felt at ease.
Lady Qing shouted, calling to Eunuch Lou and others in front: "We're here, we're here, don't walk past!"