September 15th, after being imprisoned for more than ten days, the two people who had ridiculed and laughed at Xu Xiang at the beginning, gradually became silent, no longer mocking him in front of Xu Xiang, and no longer venting their anger and resentment towards eunuchs in their upbringing.
　　In this gradual silence, Xu Xiang also anticipated something.
　　It seemed that a very subtle vitality broke out from the silence. Not only these two people, but also the jailers of the Tuan's Office knew about it, and their attitude towards him changed every day.
　　Sure enough, on the night of the 15th, about half an hour after dusk, when the fire was still bright, the chain of the door where he was imprisoned was opened, and a neatly dressed guard helped him up from the prison. From his clothes, it can be seen that this is one of the two guards in the capital, but he did not wear the iconic purple pattern official uniform or the unicorn belt, so it was impossible to immediately tell who he belonged to.
　　The guards tore off his tattered, sticky clothes—severe pain suddenly broke out on his skin.
　　Thanks to Zheng Yuheng and the several adults he entrusted with the care, they applied medicine to him in advance, otherwise, a large piece of blood scab and scars would have been left on his body, and a layer of his skin would have been peeled off.
　　At this moment, the edge of the wound where the clothes were stuck was torn off, and a small piece of blood scab fell to the ground along with the broken outer clothes, revealing pink tender flesh. The guards untied the shackles on his body and handed him a brand new piece of clothing.
　　Xu Xiang unfolded the clothes, which was the official uniform of the governor of the rear province, dark blue with dark patterns all over.
　　It seemed that things were not as he thought. Not only did he escape death, but he also seemed to have retained a certain position—there was no need to think about the matter of the inner factory. This was a great opportunity for the emperor to arrange his own people in the inner factory, which was much better than a criminal minister like him who was not good at speaking and implicated the princess.
　　Xu Xiang changed his clothes, and his damaged skin came into contact with the fabric, causing a slight stinging pain.
　　Then, the guards led him out.
　　The jailers watched from the sidelines. When Xu Xiang's eyes touched them, they lowered their heads and didn't look at him. It wasn't until they came in front of the two sons of Beijing officials who were serving in the Ziwei Guard that they heard one of them snort coldly.
　　Xu Xiang was indifferent.
　　However, his indifferent attitude was more like a provocation.
　　One of the young and energetic people was about to step forward and seemed to be about to speak. Just as his mouth opened and before he could utter a word, the guard in front of him grabbed him and pushed him to the side, saying in a deep voice: "Don't delay the work of the higher-ups." The young
　　man who had been showing off his power and making big speeches a dozen days ago hit the wall and felt that two of his ribs were broken, but when he looked at the guard's indifferent face, he actually retracted his head and groaned in pain like a mosquito.
　　The guard took Xu Xiang to the door of the Tuan'an Office, and then took him around a distance to a carriage parked at the end of the alley. This carriage was not as gorgeous and exquisite as the one prepared by the princess's mansion, but it was very large and wide, with a sense of grandeur and uniqueness. There were no bells hanging, but the curtain of the carriage was held down by jade beads. In the dead of night, the curtain did not move.
　　The guard stopped, and Xu Xiang was stunned for a moment. He stepped forward to open the beads, making some noises, and then a hand inside could not wait to put the curtain aside, revealing a beautiful and delicate face.
　　The two looked at each other, and Meng Zhaiyue smiled widely.
　　Xu Xiang was stunned for a moment, and the hand holding the bead curtain stepped back half an inch. After he was stunned, he looked at the other person in the carriage, immediately lifted his robe to salute, and lowered his eyes: "Your servant..."
　　Before he could finish his words, Meng Zhaiyue pulled him in, and the curtain suddenly dropped.
　　Dong Lingjiu sat in the middle, wearing her casual clothes. In front of her was a half-played chess game. Holding a scroll of chess book in her hand, she smiled slowly and said, "Xu Ziqian."
　　Xu Xiang knelt in front of her: "I thank you for saving my life, madam."
　　"It was the emperor who released you, not me." Dong Lingjiu said, "If you want to thank him, thank him... and Yingying."
　　"Yes." He replied.
　　The carriage started moving, and there were several smaller carriages following behind. The windows of the carriages were covered with a layer of hazy gauze, so the curtains on the windows were rolled up, so that everyone could see the scenery on both sides of the road. The lanterns on
　　the roadside were sometimes bright and sometimes dim. After walking out of the yamen of the Tui An Si, turning west, passing by the stone lion gates of several departments in the capital, and then turning northeast, in less than an incense stick of time, you can see the endless Shuiyue Lake.
　　There is a small pavilion in the center of Shuiyue Lake, with boats leaning against the pavilion, and on the lakeshore is the Luoyue Temple with lights still on.
　　Several people stopped the car and dismounted. The maid in the carriage behind came forward to help. At this time, the autumn wind was strong, with a sense of coldness and desolation penetrating into his clothes. Meng Zhaiyue, who was standing beside him, suddenly turned around and held his hand.
　　Xu Xiang was surprised. Looking at the back of Queen Mother Dong in front of him, he struggled to pull his fingers out. However, the princess, who usually only talked about daily affairs with him and never crossed the line, suddenly became unwilling to give in and held his hand again.
　　Xu Xiang had to whisper: "Your Highness..."
　　"Well." Meng Zhaiyue responded, "Don't let go."
　　Xu Xiang didn't dare to do so. Holding the princess's hand in front of Dong Lingjiu, this indescribable guilt was even more uncomfortable than killing him. As soon as he resisted, the princess turned around and glared at him fiercely. Her eyes were as clear as water and as bright as the moon, with a little commanding coquettishness.
　　"Xu Ziqian." She said, "This palace is going to be angry."
　　Xu Xiang was stiff and motionless. He looked at the Queen Mother in front of him nervously.
　　Dong Lingjiu didn't know whether she didn't hear it or pretended not to hear it and didn't care. She climbed the stairs, said a few words to the abbot of Luoyue Temple, and asked Meng Zhaiyue to go to the temple to burn incense.
　　Meng Zhaiyue then let go of her hand, looked back again, and then turned around and followed the abbot.
　　Under the moonlight, only Xu Xiang was left around Dong Lingjiu. She casually held the railings on both sides of the corridor beside Shuiyue Lake, looking at the sparkling and silver-colored lake, and finally said: "I didn't come here specially to pick you up. I just wanted to leave the palace to burn incense for Manjusri Bodhisattva in the temple. ... This is because when Yingying was a child, her father asked someone to tell her fortune. The fortune teller said that her fate was not good and she might not have children. So when she was five years old, she was given a fake immortal position under the seat of Manjusri Bodhisattva, which meant that the bad part of her fate followed the Bodhisattva to become a monk."
　　The person who told the princess' fortune should be the former national teacher who passed away at the age of 95.
　　"I didn't believe it at first." Dong Lingjiu turned the coral beads in her hand, turned her head to look at him, and said nothing.
　　Xu Xiang felt his whole body numb, and an extremely strong sense of destiny rolled up, making him feel guilty and uneasy, making him feel unworthy, but this made him emit a little spark - but soon, he felt pain for this little bit of wishful thinking. He shouldn't feel happy about this sentence. Even if it's just a little bit, it is a kind of harm and offense to Her Royal Highness the Princess.
　　He still lowered his eyes, his expression was silent.
　　"After today, don't meet her for the time being." Dong Lingjiu said, "The emperor will not exempt you from your position as the imperial scribe. He will still keep an eye on you, just like he kept an eye on Zheng Yuheng."
　　Xu Xiang said: "Lord Zheng... His Majesty also knows."
　　"He knows everything," Dong Lingjiu said, "He thinks he is supervising the two of you, but in fact it is the two of you who supervise him, but he is the emperor, and putting a weight on the scale is not enough... It is best to supervise each other in this way. Three parties, three lines, are the most stable."
　　She paused for a moment and sighed, "I really thought about killing you."
　　Xu Xiang was not surprised at all, and continued to look at her back.
　　"The emperor will not always figure it out. As long as Yingying's enthusiasm is not over, he will sooner or later notice you and find you annoying." She said, "But it will be your own business in the future, and I will not care about it anymore."
　　"The Queen Mother's kindness is already a rebirth."
　　"I have more than one rebirth for you." Dong Lingjiu smiled, but then said, "But what about the new life after the trough? The road is still not easy."
　　"There is no easy road in this world." Xu Xiang said, "Without the things you have given me, although the rest of my life is long, it will be like a long duckweed, without roots and home, and I can't even figure out what to do and what I should do in the future."
　　"Then I will tell you one more thing."
　　Xu Xiang bowed again and said, "Please tell me."
　　The water was rippling, and a boat with a small lantern was rowing in the distance. In addition to the boatman rowing, the lantern holder in front was looking at them from afar.
　　"Teach the princess to participate in politics."
　　Xu Xiang's pupils shrank slightly. He was silent for a long while and said, "I obey your command."
　　"The road has been paved," Dong Lingjiu said slowly, "If she really wants to save you, it depends on Yingying's own ability."
　　Xu Xiang hesitated for a moment and asked, "Aren't you afraid... that there will be a rift between His Majesty and the princess?"
　　Dong Lingjiu smiled and said, "What do you think of the emperor?"
　　"Although he has some shortcomings in his youth, he is still a king who maintains the status quo."
　　"How does he treat the princess?"
　　"Although he is paranoid, he is a close relative."
　　"Yeah." Dong Lingjiu's hands were cooled by the night wind. He rubbed his fingertips gently, "Cheng'er will not hate me, nor will he hate Yingying. He is the best."
　　Xu Xiang calmed down.
　　In front of the two of them, the boat had already arrived. At this time, Xu Xiang realized that the outline of the man holding the lantern looked familiar. Then the boat stopped and Zheng Yuheng's voice rang out: "Tan Niang!"
　　Xu Xiang's mind buzzed. He looked at Zheng Yuheng, then at Dong Lingjiu, and forced himself to retreat and bury himself in the ground.
　　But Queen Mother Dong was not angry. As if she was used to it, she leaned over the railing to look at him and lowered her head and said, "Are you ready?"
　　Zheng Yuheng said, "Of course! Xu Bingbi is going?"
　　Without waiting for Xu Xiang to speak, Zheng Yuheng said directly, "Don't go. Go and burn incense with the princess. I haven't prepared anything for you."
　　Then what are you talking about? Xu Xiang closed his mouth again and looked at him silently.
　　Zheng Yuheng turned his head, and the light reflected his handsome face. He then put the light on the boat, opened his hands and said to Dong Lingjiu: "You jump down from here, let's go to the center of the lake."
　　The railing here is high, about half a meter high, and the boat is very close, so it is not difficult to jump.
　　But this is the Queen Mother, Xu Xiang can't imagine the scene of her doing this - it's too difficult to describe, how could the Queen Mother Dong jump down from here just because of a word...
　　Before he could stop thinking, he saw Dong Lingjiu take off the hairpin on her temples, handed it to him, and then stepped on the railing and jumped from the shore into Zheng Yuheng's arms.
　　The boat shook violently, and the water ripples around it spread out layer by layer. Zheng Yuheng hugged her tightly, helped her stand steadily, turned to Xu Xiang and said: "Xu Bingbi, you should go back and have a good rest. It's so late, don't make any more trouble. The queen is playing chess and discussing scriptures with Abbot Jingxin in Luoyue Temple today."
　　Xu Xiang looked at him a little numbly, moved his eyes away, and said expressionlessly: "I know, don't make too much noise."
　　Zheng Yuheng smiled and said: "Why should I make a fuss? Your Majesty knows that I came to Luoyue Temple today. Of course, I came here to make the queen happy."
　　Xu Xiang simply turned around and left.
　　Zheng Yuheng didn't care about him. He pulled Dong Lingjiu to sit down. The boat was not big, so the two of them were very close, almost like a kind of snuggling. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. The clear light and a layer of hazy starlight fell into the lake.
　　He asked quietly, "Where is Aunt Yue Wan?"
　　Dong Lingjiu said, "I asked her to say hello to my younger brother and sister-in-law on my behalf and to accompany Yingying to burn incense."
　　Zheng Yuheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "No wonder the people watching you on the shore didn't dare to stop me. It turns out that Aunt Yue Wan was not here. Otherwise, she would have rushed up to scold me, and immediately ordered people to prepare a small boat to catch us back."
　　Dong Lingjiu couldn't help laughing, "She was afraid that something would happen to me, for example, I was too heavy and overturned your boat."
　　"You are as light as cotton," Zheng Yuheng complained, "I measured your waist yesterday and it didn't feel much heavier. How could you not eat in such a cool autumn?"
　　Dong Lingjiu thought, "Maybe you are tired of the taste, and you have to change a cook."
　　"When your majesty lets me go back and doesn't ask me to accompany you all day, I will go back to wash my hands and cook, and make medicinal food for you." He said.
　　"You won't poison me to death..." Dong Lingjiu sighed as he looked at the reflection of the stars in the water.
　　"How is that possible?" Zheng Yuheng rubbed against her, went forward and hugged her, and said coquettishly, "I will test the poison for you. If I faint from the poison, Tan Niang will kiss me awake."
　　Even though Dong Lingjiu had accepted it for so long, there was still a moment when his words hit her head, and she felt that there was a generation gap.
　　However, looking at Xu Xiang's appearance just now, it seemed that he and Zheng Yuheng also had a generation gap, but they were not too far apart in age.
　　The boat slowly stopped in the pavilion in the middle of the lake. Zheng Yuheng went ashore, then raised her arm and took her over. Dong Lingjiu just stepped on the ground and looked up to see more than a dozen small crystal lamps connected and placed in the corners of the pavilion, which illuminated this place very brightly.
　　The candlelight passed through the crystal stone, revealing a color like moonlight. It seemed that this place was the center of the moonlight.
　　Dozens of pots of epiphyllums were placed on the inside of the lamp. These flowers were clustered together. Although they had no fragrance, they surrounded the surroundings. In the middle were two bamboo mats covered with thick felt, with a stove burning in the middle. Spices such as pepper were scattered in the pot, and different ingredients were cooked in several compartments.
　　The hot pot seemed to have been burning for a while, and most of the food in it was cooked. Chili peppers were added to one of the small compartments, and there was a small stove on the other side, which was scalding a pot of wine.
　　Dong Lingjiu glanced at it and said, "Xu Bingbi is indeed not suitable to come to this place."
　　Zheng Yuheng nodded as a matter of course, and then she heard her say, "... After he sees you, he will think you are vulgar and will question my vision from now on." She
　　sighed as she spoke.
　　Zheng Yuheng was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself, don't girls like these flowers and powders?
　　As he thought about it, facing Dong Lingjiu, he couldn't help but mutter what was in his heart. Dong Lingjiu
　　raised his eyebrows when he heard it, shook his head and smiled, rolled up his sleeves and sat down, and replied: "Who told you this?" Zheng Yuheng: "Of course, my colleagues in the Palace Front Department told me... and Mr. Zhang Jianqing who I met in the Ministry of Revenue before."
　　"Oh?"
　　"Brother Zimo said that his wife likes flowers the most."
　　Dong Lingjiu said: "Well... I liked them very much when I was seventeen."
　　She didn't pick up the chopsticks, but poured a cup of tea first, moistened her throat, and said meaningfully: "I like something practical nowadays."
　　Zheng Yuheng couldn't understand: "What?"
　　Dong Lingjiu looked at him and smiled, his tone was very gentle and kind, saying: "For example, you have a flower tattooed on your body, only wearing an outer shirt, and when you are in the center of the lake at night, when it's just you and me, you untie your shirt and show the flower on your body for me to appreciate."
　　Zheng Yuheng: "..."
　　His eyelids twitched, and he looked down at himself, his head dizzy.
　　Sometimes he would be suddenly shocked by Tan Niang's words, and often his ears would turn red and bleed in an instant, and he couldn't say a word.
　　Zheng Yuheng was stunned for a while, and actually measured his heart, his Adam's apple rolled, and whispered: "...where do you think it should be?"
　　Dong Lingjiu said: "The back."
　　Zheng Yuheng was stunned.
　　She finished her tea and ate slowly, as if she had avoided the vegetarian meal at Luoyue Temple just to feel the warmth of this late autumn pot - when she was in the palace, her diet was taken care of by the entire Cining Palace, and she would not be given such food that was "not refined enough" in the eyes of Yuewan and the small kitchen. The
　　radish on her plate had to be carved with a peony flower, and Du Yuewan would feel that it was beneath her status if it was replaced with other flowers.
　　"The back..." Zheng Yuheng murmured, he didn't care about eating, holding the chopsticks and thinking for a long time. "Then you can't see it..."
　　Dong Lingjiu tasted a few mouthfuls, but didn't answer, but said first: "It's cold."
　　Zheng Yuheng took off his coat and put it on her shoulders, and poured out a pot of wine that had been boiling for a long time, poured it into the cup and handed it to her.
　　Dong Lingjiu held the wine cup and drank it, and the warmth came from the inside out. In addition, the steaming hot pot in front of her and the clothes on her shoulders were almost completely isolated from the cold air in late autumn.
　　After she finished her drink, her voice was a little hoarse, and she replied: "Only if it's tattooed on
　　your back can you pick the flowers." Then, Dong Lingjiu looked up at him and said softly: "Have the red marks from scratching your back last night disappeared?"
　　Zheng Yuheng paused, and his face turned red visibly. He gulped down a big mouthful of wine, as if to give himself courage, but was afraid of being heard by others, so he whispered: "I don't know, you...can you help me take a look?"
　　The author has something to say:
　　Xiao Zheng, what are you talking about! ! (Purely taught badly)