Snowflakes were falling to the ground, and the snow on the ground was getting thicker and thicker.

The sky is getting dark.

As soon as Haishi arrived, all the palace lanterns in Zichen Palace were extinguished, except for the two palm-sized silver-inlaid jade pedestal lamps on the bedside that were still on.

Rong Shu did not ask Zhujun and Lan Xuan to stay vigil, but they did not dare not to stay vigil. After thinking about it, they simply retreated to the outer hall to make bunks on the floor.

Rong Shu looked at the familiar pomegranate flower curtain on the top of the bed, as if he had returned to the bed in Songsiyuan, and there was always a sense of confusion that he didn't know what night it was.

She held the pillow in her arms for a month, but she couldn't fall asleep.

She obviously ate a bowl of sweet-scented osmanthus rice wine before going to bed. In the past, she could always fall asleep quickly as long as she ate rice wine.

While turning around, there were several very subtle noises coming from the outer hall.

Rong Shu stiffened, and his fingertips unconsciously pinched the fluffy rabbit tail on Yue'er's pillow.

After holding his breath for a moment, he finally opened the bed curtain and got down on the bed.

The inner hall and the outer hall are separated only by a curtain embroidered with Baoxiang group patterns, and a tall figure can be vaguely seen outside the curtain.

Rong Shu walked over slowly.

At this moment, the man outside the curtain whispered: "Rong Zhaozhao, it's me."

Xu was afraid of scaring her, so his voice was very deep, as if it was stuck in his chest.

Rong Shu walked slowly.

She had already guessed it was him.

The two of them were separated by a cotton curtain, and they were silent. No one said anything.

After a moment, Rong Shu stepped forward, opened the curtain, and looked at Gu Changjin.

Her eyes were particularly bright today.

Gu Changjin knew at a glance that this girl had probably been drinking again.

Every time she drinks, whether drunk or not, her eyes will shine like stars before dawn.

He gently raised the corners of his lips and asked, "Did you have wine?"

Rong Shu said, "I didn't have wine. I ate Osmanthus fermented glutinous rice with five glutinous rice balls with different fillings in it." There

used to be a restaurant in Wutong Lane. The shop sells this kind of sweet-scented osmanthus rice dumplings, with only five glutinous rice balls in it, and each glutinous rice ball corresponds to a kind of filling, such as sesame, bean paste, rose, jujube and cherry.

This dumpling is called Wufu dumpling.

When Rong Shu was in Wutong Lane, she loved to eat the dumplings from this restaurant as soon as winter came. The first time she ate them was what Chang Ji brought to her.

The glutinous rice balls we eat today are almost the same as the glutinous rice balls from the restaurant in Wutong Lane. They are sweet but not greasy, soft and glutinous, and are Rong Shu's favorite food.

"I used to eat glutinous rice dumplings and fermented glutinous rice in Wutong Lane, but you asked Chang Ji to bring it to me?" Rong Shu said.

Gu Changjin said "hmm".

"In addition to glutinous rice dumplings, Chang Ji sent me cold locust leaves, almond cheese, plum slices and snowflake candies..." Rong Shu counted more than ten snacks that she couldn't buy in Wutong Lane. "These are also Did you send someone to buy it outside?"

Gu Changjin said "Hmm" again: "In the past, Governor Huang of the Criminal Department Yamen was not only inquisitive, but also delicious. He wrote a book "Shangjing Food Record", which I borrowed. Pass."

After borrowing the book, he bought her some snacks based on Governor Huang's food book and sent them to Song Si Yuan through Chang Ji's hand.

No wonder she just casually mentioned "osmanthus wine rice" today, and the cook was able to make a bowl of her favorite Wufu glutinous rice dumplings.

The little ice beasts outside the rhombus lattice window are still swaying in the wind.

Rong Shu couldn't help but wonder, what else did this man do behind her back?

He carved ice sculptures for her, and people from all over the capital found delicious food for her and brought them to Songsiyuan. He also copied the words she had drawn and written.

Anymore?

Rong Shu opened his lips.

I want to ask, but I don’t want to.

It was as if after asking, her heart that wanted to fly out would be bound by countless ties.

I shouldn't have asked about the bowl of sweet-scented osmanthus wine just now.

The drunkenness from the bowl of fermented rice that had fallen into his stomach eroded part of his usual calmness, so he asked in a confused manner.

As she was thinking, there was a sudden lightness on her body, and the man outside the curtain stepped in at some point, picked up her legs with both hands, and took her to the couch.

Rong Shu was startled and was about to say, "Gu Changjin, what are you doing?" He had already put the person into the soft quilt.

Gu Changjin tucked her into a quilt, stuffed the Yue'er pillow into her arms, looked at her for a moment, and said, "Go to sleep, I'll keep watch in the outer hall."

After saying that, he put down the incense tent without any explanation.

Rong Shu watched his figure gradually go out through the thin bed curtain. The curtain made a "click" sound and he left the outer hall.

Soon there was no more rustling in the outer hall.

Rong Shu lay back on the couch.

The wind and snow were lonely, and the long-lost tiredness finally swept over me.

Drowsily, she recalled inexplicably the night when he brought her back to Pingnan Street. He did the same thing, boiling water for her to bathe in the middle of the night, and then guarding her outside the door.

She had been raised coquettishly since she was a child, and she knew the bed as well as the house.

When you arrive in a strange place, the house is like a nest of gold and silver, and you will have trouble sleeping for the first few nights.

The room I slept in today was exactly the same as the one in Songsiyuan. It couldn't be called unfamiliar, but it was probably because there was always an uneasiness lingering in my heart, and I couldn't calm down.

Tonight I had a bowl of fermented rice wine, hoping to fall asleep earlier due to the drunkenness.

Rong Shu turned sideways and rested half of his face on Yue'er's pillow. He glanced at the direction of the outer hall through the bed curtain again, his long eyelashes slowly closed, and the uneasy feeling of wandering and ungrounded finally disappeared little by little. Disperse.

A bean light swayed gently.

Gu Changjin sat on the side of the painting curtain, raised his head slightly, and looked at a point in the void.

He sat there motionless, like a statue, for a long time, until the sound of shallow and even breathing came from the inner hall, then he got up and returned to the inner hall.

Stepping onto the bed, the young lady's eyebrows were relaxed, her satin-like black hair was spread out on the couch, and she was sleeping deeply.

Gu Changjin reached out and hooked the red thread around her neck, and a clear jade Buddha bead slipped from her neck.

He gently picked up the jade Buddha bead, looked at the Buddha face carved on the jade bead carefully, then put down the jade bead and walked out of the inner hall.

Rong Shu had a good night's sleep.

When she woke up, the sky had cleared up, and Zhu Jun and Lan Xuan came in to help her wash up.

While the two were twisting the handkerchief, she subconsciously glanced toward the outer hall.

Gu Changjin has long disappeared.

Seeing this, Mr. Zhu said: "Your Highness has entered the palace early in the morning to attend court. Today is the tenth day of the lunar month. After the discussion, we have to go to Kunning Palace to pay respects to the Queen. It will probably be noon when we return to the East Palace."

Rong Shu said, "Yeah." He said: "With the New Year approaching, His Highness the Crown Prince must be very busy."

Lan Xuan heard this and took over with a smile, "His Highness is very busy every day and sleeps hard every night. Even the Emperor is urging him to get more rest."

He said. It has always been like this. In the past, when he was busy in Wutong Lane, he would really forget to eat and sleep. Every time she went to deliver food to him, no matter how busy he was, he would stop what he was doing and finish the food she cooked bit by bit.

Rong Shu took the hot handkerchief from Lan Xuan and said, "Your Highness likes to eat bacon, especially venison. Marinate the venison with coarse salt for two days, scrape off the salt, and then put it in the charcoal fire. Bake it, cut it into small pieces and put it in a box, it can be paired with tea or wine."

Lan Xuan on the other side listened with a little hesitation.

Is bacon, something that is not allowed on the table, really His Highness's favorite food?

Your Highness is quite picky.

I heard from people in the dining room that not long after His Highness took charge of the East Palace, he found a food catalog from somewhere, which listed dozens or hundreds of kinds of food in Beijing.

So dozens of people in the dining room were busy researching new dishes based on this food book. After some of them came out, His Highness always said they didn't taste right, which made everyone in the dining room very worried.

Since then, everyone in the East Palace has known that our Highness is not easy to take care of when it comes to food.

"Our Highness is a picky person, do you really like to eat this bacon?" Lan Xuan couldn't help but ask.

Gu Changjin is picky?

Rong Shu raised his eyebrows in surprise. This was someone who could eat a bowl of pig sesame without changing his expression. If he is picky, then there will be no one in the world who is not picky.

Lan Xuan just said those words and got a slap in the face from Mr. Zhu. Her aunt was the cook in the dining room and asked her to ask about His Highness's preferences all the time. Now that she finally met someone who knew His Highness's preferences, naturally she didn't Will pass up this opportunity.

Then he gritted his teeth and said: "My aunt is waiting in the dining room. Your Highness has made a food list for the dining room. The people in the dining room actually made the dishes in the food list. Unfortunately, Your Highness always felt bad after eating." It doesn't taste good. My aunt is always worried about how to make the right food. Why don't you find some time to take a look? "

Rong Shu is really curious about that food.

As soon as breakfast was finished, I already had the food book in my hand.

She was stunned as soon as she turned the first page. Gu Changjin didn't like sweetness or sourness. Many of the dishes here were both sour and sweet. They were clearly his least favorite.

She is the one who really loves to eat.

Rong Shu flipped through the food catalog page by page, then closed the book and looked at the familiar handwriting on the title page, lowering his eyes and saying nothing.

Gu Changjin didn't know about the affairs of Zichen Palace. After attending the morning court, he went to Kunning Palace after discussing with Emperor Jiayou in Yangxin Palace.

In order to take care of Wenxi these days, Queen Qi never left Kunning Palace.

When Aunt Zhu came to report, she had just given Wen Xi a bowl of medicine.

After being administered acupuncture for more than half a month, Wen Xi's body gradually improved and his coma became shorter and shorter. Empress Qi never gave her the decoctions to others, she always fed them herself.

Gently wiping the concoction on the corners of Wen Xi's lips with a handkerchief, Queen Qi handed the bowl to Nanny Zhu and said, "I will go to see the prince first. Nanny will guard Xi'er here."

Usually Gu Changjin comes to say hello. , most of them will leave after having one or two cups of tea.

Queen Qi wanted to get closer to him, but the two were not related by blood, and they were separated by the Qi family and Xiao Fu, so they couldn't trust each other. It was not easy to maintain superficial harmony.

Back at Kunning Palace, Queen Qi was about to ask someone to serve tea to Gu Changjin like before, and asked him to leave after saying a few innocuous things.

Unexpectedly, before she could speak, Gu Changjin had already said, "The Jade Buddha Bead that my mother has been looking for has been found."

Jade Buddha Bead?

Queen Qi paused.

How could he know that she had a jade Buddha bracelet and also that the jade Buddha bracelet was missing a bead?

The jade Buddha bracelet was passed down from my grandmother to my grandmother, who in turn passed it on to her. It is extremely precious and there is only one in this world. There are forty-nine jade Buddha beads on it, and each bead has a different Buddha statue carved on it. .

In the small Buddhist hall of Daci'en Temple, when the child fell to the ground, the bracelet broke and the jade beads scattered on the floor.

In the end, only forty-eight were found, and one was missing.

Queen Qi stepped back, raised her eyes to look at Gu Changjin, and said with a smile: "Prince, tell me, which Bodhisattva is carved on the jade Buddha bead that I am looking for?"

Gu Changjin responded quietly: " That jade Buddha bead is not carved with a Bodhisattva, but with a bird with four faces, one sitting, two leaning, three standing, and four lying."

The smile on Queen Qi's lips disappeared.

The bead was indeed engraved with King Ming of the Four-faced Bird, and even Aunt Gui didn't know about it.

I think the prince has really seen that bead.

What did he mean by these words? Want to tell her, does he know what happened at Da Ci'en Temple?

As if he guessed what she was thinking, Gu Changjin raised his eyes and stared at Queen Qi, and said, "Ding and his ministers told her that Po Wen, who was swaddling the little princess, secretly stuffed a jade Buddha bead into the little princess. He tried to steal the bead in his hand. However, the little princess was robbed and the jade Buddha bead disappeared. "

What did the prince want to say?" Queen Qi looked at Gu Changjin with a cold expression. "But it doesn't matter."

"I know a girl who also has a cinnabar mole on her shoulder and has been wearing a jade Buddha bead since she was a child." Gu Changjin said: "And her nurse is Yunhua The confidant of Princess Xiao Fu. Xiao Fu arranged for this girl to die miserably in the "Midnight.

"

Queen Qi's hand on the arm of the chair suddenly tightened, and there was a "snap" sound, and a nail broke.

In the side hall, Aunt Zhu couldn't help but look thoughtful when she heard that Queen Qi had retreated, and even Aunt Gui had been taken out by her.

Has the young master angered Queen Qi?

No, with the current precarious situation of the Qi family, even if Queen Qi was angered, Queen Qi would not dare to break up with the prince.

Aunt Zhu looked at Xu Li'er who was outside, and then at Wen Xi who was about to wake up. After thinking about it, she swallowed back what she asked Wen Xi to ask.

Aunt Zhu knew very well that Empress Qi only believed in Wen Xi's identity at the moment.

Wen Xi had better not ask anything at the moment.

Half an hour later, Queen Qi finally returned from the main hall.

Aunt Zhu noticed that she had changed her clothes, and hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Miss Wen is awake."

Empress Qi glanced at Aunt Zhu, and after a moment, she nodded with a smile and said, "Everyone, please go out, I'm here ." Here I am with Xi'er."

After saying that, he bent down and helped Wen Xi up. He lowered his eyes and looked at her face carefully, and then said, "It looks better now. When the weather clears up in a few days, I will I'll take you out for a walk."

Wen Xi bit his bloodless lips and asked softly, "Empress, can I see Brother Chang Jin in a few days?"