"What do you think?"

Mrs. Lin said in her room.

The original precious fragrance in the room mixed with the suffocating breath, making people breathless.

Xiang Yi answered Mrs. Lin softly as she looked over.

...

The annual spring banquet is one of the most important days in the Lin Mansion, and the garden has been renovated two months ago.

At this time, the flowers are red and willows are green, and various varieties of precious flowers and plants are arranged in an orderly manner on the rockeries in the forest beside the river.

Some are in bud, some are just beginning to bloom, or some are already in full bloom. The spring flowers are in full bloom. People walk among them and blend in with the flowers and plants in the spring scenery. It is a grand scene everywhere.

However, there are also people who do not have the leisure and leisure to enjoy the scenery.

Miss Li San's name was Li Liangu. Although there was a flower in her name, when she was still in the boudoir, she had no time to enjoy flowers. She only felt that these flowers and plants were not as real as rouge, gouache, and brocade clothes.

Later, I got married, which was fine at first, but after my husband accidentally fell off a horse and broke his leg, life became more and more gray, his eyes were haggard, and there were no beautiful flowers and plants anywhere.

At this moment, she called a girl next to her who looked somewhat similar to her.

"You have to pay careful attention to the unengaged women who are similar to your age and are here today. Then you should behave differently from them."

After hearing this, the girl laughed, her eyes big and bright.

"Third sister, don't worry. Rongniang knows what she wants and has already prepared things."

Li Rongniang lives in the Li clan's house in Huaichuan. Like Miss Li San, Li Liangu, they are both girls from the Li clan.

It's just that Li Rongniang's father was a concubine of the clan. The clan heard about Mrs. Lin's intention to change her nephew's wife, and after some calculation, they sent Li Rongniang to the capital and arrived in time for the spring banquet.

Three years ago, when the eldest son of the Tan family was unmarried, Mrs. Li wanted to get married to the Tan family, but unfortunately it didn't work out. It wouldn't be a loss if it worked out this time.

After all, at this time, the eldest son of the Tan family looked even more young and promising, starting out as a fourth-rank general official.

Li Liangu looked at her seventh sister Li Rongniang's flowery appearance and age, and thought of her delayed youth, and she felt depressed for a while.

But when she looked up, she saw someone not far away.

Li Liangu stared at that person for several breaths -

several years had passed, but she had not changed much from before. If there had been any change, she had become more dignified.

"Who is that?" Li Rongniang followed her third sister's gaze and saw a woman in willow-yellow clothes. "She is also dressed like a girl, but she looks much older than me."

Li Liangu She nodded and said, "Indeed, she is about the same age as me. She is the eldest lady of the Cheng family, Cheng Yunxian."

Li Rongnian was stunned.

When she was in her boudoir, she had heard the name of Miss Cheng, saying that she was also one of the top noble ladies in the capital.

At the beginning, the Cheng family intended to let Cheng Yunxian enter the East Palace as the successor to the crown princess. Unfortunately, after the death of his first wife, the crown prince had no intention of marrying another one.

Later, the Cheng family wanted to marry the Tan family, but the eldest son of the Tan family married Xiang's daughter according to the old engagement. Cheng Yunxian's mother died of illness, and he had to observe mourning behind closed doors at home for three years, and he had just come out of his mourning period.

She is naturally a little older than ordinary girls who are waiting for marriage.

"She won't come to see you, right?" Li Rongniang became nervous.

Li Liangu did not deny this, but just snorted softly.

"She wasted three years, but the time has come..."

she said, looking at her seventh sister again.

"You don't have to be scared by her. Although Cheng Yunxian is of high birth, it is not impossible for Mrs. Lin and Uncle Tan to take a fancy to you. After all, our Huaichuan Li family is also one of the four major families, and we are not as good as their Heng Beicheng family." Besides, there are old ladies in the clan who can speak for you. When you meet Mr. Tan, all you need to do is..."

Li Liangu whispered something in her sister's ear.

The words of the two sisters were hidden among the flowers, and no one could hear them.

The high ground across the river from the female relatives is where the men chat.

Tan Ting, together with Mr. Lin and the men of the Lin family, welcomed the guests for a while. Now that the guests have arrived, everyone can rest.

Mr. Lin asked Tan Ting to sit in the study for a while, drink a cup of tea and rest for a while.

He looked at Tan Ting carefully, "It seems that you recovered quickly from your injuries?"

Tan Ting nodded and said, "It's lucky that it didn't hurt any important parts."

Lin Xu stroked his beard.

His beard is long and shiny, and he has a beautiful beard. He lightly strokes his beard in this posture, which makes him more elegant and charming.

He said, "Your aunt heard that you were missing and injured, and she was so anxious that she didn't rest for two days. But it's good that you're fine. It can be seen that besides studying, she also practiced her muscles and bones."

Tan Ting said yes, "Confucius was good at swordsmanship. To protect oneself, let alone today's scholars."

"Exactly, I used to practice martial arts when I was young, but I can't do it anymore as I get older,"

Lin Xu said, nodding to Tan Ting. She glanced at him and deliberately reminded him.

"You have to be more careful in the future. There are always people hiding in the dark."

Tan Ting agreed. Seeing that he was about to get up and change clothes, he said goodbye and left the study.

Leaving the study courtyard through the back door, you will find a bamboo forest. Coincidentally, brothers Li Chengxu and Li Chengyun were talking in the forest.

Li Chengxu is the eldest son of the Li family in Huaining. Like Tan Ting, he took the position of eldest son at a young age. However, he is not as healthy as Tan Ting. He accidentally fell into a southwest mountain stream while traveling and was seriously injured. If he hadn't been injured at that time, Miao, who was not married yet, had already died after being rescued.

It was precisely because of this that when Li Chengxu returned to the clan, he overcame everyone's objections and married the Miao family, who was from an unknown small family, back to his family.

Now he was sitting on a bamboo chair with a blanket on his legs and basking in the sun. Seeing Tan Ting coming, he was about to get up. Tan Ting quickly waved to him, telling him not to be polite.

"It's important to have a good rest."

Li Chengyun saw that Tan Ting was walking as usual and said, "Yuan Zhi's injury healed very quickly."

Tan Ting said yes and moved his arm slightly, and there was no obvious pain anymore.

Today, many people were surprised that he recovered quickly from his injury. At this moment, Li Chengyun also said something, so he said.

"Zhuo Jing changes my medicine twice a day. She is careful and dexterous, so her injuries naturally heal quickly."

Tan Ting said that he didn't think anything, but he thought of his wife and couldn't help but look in the direction of the female family members.

Unfortunately, nothing can be seen through the courtyard wall and trees.

But when brothers Li Chengxu and Li Chengyun saw him like this, they smiled and looked at each other.

Li Chengyun couldn't help but ask.

"Did Yuan Zhi miss his wife?"

Tan Ting looked away after hearing this.

He cleared his throat and glanced at Li Chengyun, which was quite magnanimous.

"Zhuo Jing has never been to such a big banquet in Beijing. I'm afraid she will get lost."

"Lost?" Li Chengyun laughed directly, "Mrs. Xiang is not like my sister-in-law at first. She has never been to Beijing to attend a banquet. How could she be lost?"

Miao came from a small aristocratic family in the southwest mountains and married into the Li family. I have never been to Beijing before.

The first time I went to a certain house for a banquet, I got lost among the man-made rockeries, bushes, and streams. I walked around in the back garden five times. In the end, Li Chengxu went there in person and found her out of the grass. .

She was still surprised when she came out.

"Why is this garden so big? It's really a great time for me to walk around!"

Everyone in the capital knows the joke Miao made when she first arrived.

Li Chengyun said this, and his eldest brother Li Chengxu smiled helplessly and shook his head.

Compared to Miao, who had never been to Beijing, Xiang Yi was from an official family, so how could he get lost in the garden.

Tan Ting did not answer his old friend's words, but thought he talked too much and glanced at him.

Li Chengyun didn't understand, but asked again with a smile.

"Yuan Zhi values ​​​​his wife at home so much. Why didn't he bring her to Beijing in the past three years?" After

Li Chengyun said this, he saw Tan Yuan Zhi turn his head and look over with a very unhappy frown, and finally responded to his words.

But he said coldly.

"Don't mention the past anymore."

Li Chengyun almost laughed out loud, and Li Chengxu, who was sitting on the bamboo chair, also curled the corners of his mouth.

Just at this time, a maid came to see Tan Ting, saying that it was the eldest lady who invited her.

Tan Ting just didn't want to talk to his increasingly nagging old friend, so he saluted the two brothers and went to the flower hall where Mrs. Lin received guests.

The journey was relatively smooth, and Tan Ting arrived at Mrs. Lin's flower hall from time to time.

Mrs. Lin invited him over and said that an old aunt from the Tan family happened to be in the capital with her children and grandchildren in the past two days.

Although Tan Ting is the eldest son, he is still a junior, and this aunt is in her old age, so it is normal for him to come to visit her.

He just met the old aunt, but Mrs. Lin left him in the hall to talk.

There were many ladies and old ladies from various families sitting in the hall. Tan Ting was a junior, so he couldn't say anything. He just looked around and didn't see his wife.

But here are all elderly ladies, maybe there are young wives nearby.

He didn't think much about it, but the ladies were quite interested in him for some reason. They asked him some questions before letting him go.

Tan Ting would not stay long, but after leaving the flower hall, he asked Zhengji to inquire about it.

"Ask where Madam is now?"

However, Zhengji came back after asking around and shook his head with Tan Ting.

"Uncle, someone saw Madam leave Madam's place and go to the garden, but no one knows where she is now."

The garden of Lin Mansion is very large, and the scenery changes with each step. The scenery is complex and changeable. There are times when you can’t find out the time.

However, Tan Ting thought of Miao's getting lost in other people's gardens, so she asked Zhengji to take care of a few maids from the Lin family, asking them to pay attention to where Xiang Yi was and tell him.

However, when he was about to go back and left the gathering place of the female relatives, the maid next to Mrs. Lin came over and blocked his way.

"Don't be surprised, sir. The way that the uncle came just now was occupied by the theater troupe. Madam asked the uncle to go back by another way."

Tan Ting didn't listen to the opera very much, and he didn't know much about the people in the theater troupe. Interested, he nodded and let the maid lead the way.

This road was still a straight road at first, but as I walked, I came to some secluded roads.

Tan Ting didn't mind, because he could avoid the female relatives in the garden, and his wife, who was not a playful person, might be in a secluded place.

But Tan Ting did not meet his wife. Instead, he bumped into many girls from various families along the way.

First he met two women sitting opposite each other among the flowers playing the harp beside a flower bed, then he met three people reciting poems and writing poems under an old tree, and then he met a painter by the waterside. ....

Tan Ting didn't know these girls, but they all came forward to salute him and tell him their family names. When they talked about his father and brothers in the family, Tan Ting knew it and had to reply politely. leave.

Before the journey was completed, I met many women from aristocratic families, but it was my wife at home, and I didn't even see a shadow.

The corners of Tan Ting's mouth formed a downward line. Seeing another female family member passing by on the road ahead, she stopped on the path with her hands behind her hands and did not move forward.

The terrain where he stayed was a little higher, and he subconsciously looked around a few times.

But looking back and forth, I saw that the female family members in the garden were colorfully dressed in various colors, but Xiang Yi, who was wearing plain clothes, was nowhere to be found.

Zhengji also asked some maids nearby, but no one knew.

Where can Yi Zhen go?

Is it really as lost as Miao's?

Tan Ting frowned.

...

Another place in Lin Mansion.

The smell of cool, damp books was very strong. Perhaps to prevent a fire, several water jars filled with water were placed here.

As soon as the door opened, heavy moisture hit my face.

The little maid opened the door and left. Only Xiang Yi and Chun Bamboo were left in the bookstore.

Chun Bamboo opened the window and ventilated the air, but still felt that the humidity was too high.

"If Madam stays here to copy the plays, why not go to the third floor of this bookstore, which may be more transparent."

Xiang Yi nodded, said nothing, took the play book that Mrs. Lin copied for her under the pretext, We climbed to the third floor quietly.

There wasn't much moisture on the third floor, and the spring bamboo shoots opened the windows, letting in the cool breeze.

The Lin Mansion's bookstore is located in the north of the garden. It is in a remote location, and you can't even hear the sound of the theater troupe trying out plays.

Xiang Yi glanced out of the window and saw that some heavy clouds had gathered in the sky, blocking the sun. He wondered if it would rain.

The scenery of the Lin Mansion's flower banquet is completely visible. At a glance, the garden is dotted with brightly-dressed women in brocade among the green willows and peach reds.

You can't see where the men gather here, only the women in the garden.

The wind blew past her ears, and she was about to look away when she suddenly saw a tall man wearing a lake blue brocade robe among the bright colors.

Xiang Yi was stunned for a moment, his eyes fixed on him involuntarily, and he followed him forward.

Seeing him crossing the path, he stopped after walking a few steps and saluted the female relatives on the roadside.

They were all young girls who seemed a little shy when they saw him. They lowered their heads and didn't know what to say. He also said something back to them, but Xiang Yi naturally couldn't hear them.

In the remote bookstore, it was quiet all around. Only the wind came through the window and blew against the window, making a squeaking sound.

The colorful flowers set off the people in the flowers.

Xiang Yi stood on the third floor of the book pavilion, quietly looked into the distance a few more times, remained silent, and slowly withdrew his gaze.

Chun Bamboo arranged the table and laid out paper and pen for Xiang Yi.

He looked up at her and saw his wife standing under the window, wondering what she was thinking, with her eyes lowered and a faint smile on her lips.

For some reason, Chun Bamboo's heart skipped a beat when she saw that faint smile.

She couldn't help but ask, "Madam...what's wrong?"

After saying that, Madam raised her eyes and slowly shook her head.

"Nothing."

Wasn't this what she had expected?

After Xiang Yi finished speaking, he closed the window behind him with his backhand, shutting out the wind blowing from the distance.