Kunning

Zhou Baoying was given half of yesterday's peach slice cake, Jiang Xuening was still a little dejected thinking about it.

She lowered her head and followed Xie Wei into the side hall.

Xie Wei didn't even look at her, he just pointed to the piano table in the hall nonchalantly, and said, "Let's practice the piano."

At this time, Jiang Xuening didn't notice anything.

Xie Wei never spoke much, not even a few words, she was used to it.

Last time I was restless, but this time I was a little calmer.

After sitting down and finishing playing, she still felt pretty good, and wanted to hear what Xie Wei had to say.

Unexpectedly, when listening to the piano, Xie Wei looked out of the window the whole time, until the sound of the piano faded away, then turned to look at her, and said: "When I started, my mind was too careless, and I played a little anxiously. It gets better, but it floats up again at the end. Often after you feel satisfied, you will soon become unsatisfactory. Practice makes perfect, or you should be more familiar and calmer."

Jiang Xuening looked at her fingers thoughtfully.

But Xie Wei said: "Hooking the finger is too fast, the string sound is short, you have to wait until the lingering sound of the previous rhyme is almost exhausted before entering."

Thus, Jiang Xuening finally sensed faintly—

But this discovery has nothing to do with Qin.

Only related to Xie Wei.

He doesn't always smile, the little smile in his eyes is usually mostly polite, but as long as his brows and eyes are softened a little, it will always make people feel like a spring breeze.

Impeccably perfect.

But in this side hall, he would frown, and would scold her with a cold smile when there was no one else around.

But today everything faded away.

Not cold, just bland.

Although words and deeds seemed to be the same as usual, Jiang Xuening always felt as if she was a little distant, as if separated by a layer.

The idea came too fast and too direct.

She didn't even have time to sort out where this feeling came from, let alone any clues to follow.

His thoughts flew, and he returned to the piano in the blink of an eye.

"Zheng..."

Jiang Xuening tried again according to Xie Wei's instructions, but it was worse than before, and there was no way to do it.

She looked at him in bewilderment.

The girl's eyes were a little confused, as if she wanted to ask him something more, but she didn't dare to speak.

Xie Wei then thought, she seems to be like this all the time, a little afraid of herself.

It is always useless to say that learning the piano.

He moved over to Jiang Xuening's side, gently placed the volume of books on the side of her piano table, and subconsciously bent over to put his fingers on the strings. However, when he leaned over, the wide sleeve robe fell down beside the girl's slender arms, so he paused.

The peach slice cake came back to his mind.

What did she take him for?

Or, who does he think of himself as?

Without changing his expression, Xie Wei stretched out his hand and moved Qin to the side.

The distance with Jiang Xuening was widened.

Closing his eyes, he raised his finger, hooked the strings and played the section just now, before he returned the piano to her and said, "Try again."

This time I was close and could hear clearly.

Jiang Xuening probably understood.

She tried it, and it really got better.

Just looking up at Xie Wei's figure passing by the piano table, she felt more and more that the feeling that crossed her heart just now was not an illusion.

Restraint, alienation.

This feeling of keeping a distance, whether it is compared to the past smiles and reprimands, or the past words of advice, it is reasonable to say that it will make her a lot easier.

After all, she wanted to keep Xie Wei away from the beginning.

But right now, while relaxing, I feel something is wrong.

But when I think about it in detail, I don't know exactly what's wrong.

If this short day may still be her illusion, then in the next few days, this "illusion" will gradually deepen into a real perception.

It's really sparse.

Speaking the same way, teaching like the piano, Xie Wei is still the usual Xie Wei, the same Xie Wei that everyone in the civil and military circles of the Manchu Dynasty is familiar with. But he has no temper anymore, Jiang Xuening didn't even dare to show the few willfulness and stubbornness in front of him like this; there were no pastries and snacks for leisure in the side hall, and he hardly even made tea, and even more Needless to say, I asked her to drink like the previous few times.

What is this feeling like?

It's like a person stepped forward, took a step back, and returned to the original place.

Jiang Xuening felt uncomfortable and uncomfortable for no reason.

Her intuition told her that something should have happened secretly without her knowing, or maybe she had done something wrong unintentionally, but the two of them had so much contact in total, she really couldn't think of it. .

Whenever he wanted to ask Xie Wei what happened, he felt hypocritical.

Obviously everything looks the same, so where did she start asking?

In addition, the day of Yan's crowning ceremony in the Yongyi Hou's Mansion was approaching, and Jiang Xuening gradually let go of other things, and didn't think much about it.

In her previous life, she prepared a birthday gift for Yan Lin, but in the end she failed to send it out;

She prepared the same gift in this life, only hoping to make up for the regrets of the previous life, and hand it over to that boy.

When Jiang Xuening was out of the palace again to rest and take a bath, Jiang Xuening didn't even have time to ask You Fangyin how things were going, so she ordered someone to go to the sword casting workshop in the west of the city.

It is always written in the storybook that the sword must pick the master.

But in fact, those who can really make good swords are all craftsmen. No one will choose the sword from anyone, and the one who can make a lot of money is the "Lord".

Obviously, this "Second Miss Jiang" who they didn't know well was such a wealthy "Lord".

As early as half a year ago, the coronation ceremony of the young master Yanlin of the Yongyi Hou Mansion had already attracted most of the capital's eagerly looking forward to it. I don't know how many ladies are waiting for the day when the young man is crowned and named, and there are matchmakers everywhere. The Icemen even prepared the roster early, and waited for the threshold of the Hou Mansion to be broken through after the crowning ceremony.

However, the current situation is something no one expected.

However, in just half a year, the Yongyi Hou Mansion, which was so prominent in the past that it could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Xiao Clan, is already in jeopardy, and there is a risk that the whole family will be reduced to a prisoner at any time. In the past, people were fawning and coddling everywhere, lest they would not be invited during the crowning ceremony of the young master, and would be ridiculed in Beijing; but now they are handing out gold-plated invitations to various prefectures, either shutting their doors or refusing to accept them. Back, for fear of having something to do with the Hou Mansion again and causing trouble for the upper body.

Human feelings are cold and warm, but that is the case.

Apart from Jiang Xuening, all the companions in Yangzhi Zhai have almost no personal relationship with Yan Lin, and most of them originally planned to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

But Shen Zhiyi couldn't resist going.

Not only did she want to go, but she also wanted to go there openly and with great fanfare.

Everyone was accompanied by the eldest princess. When Shen Zhiyi said that they were going, they hesitated a little. Then they heard Xiao Shu said that they were going, and the rest of them were put on fire. It would be bad if they didn't go.

After the big guys discussed it, they all went with Shen Zhiyi.

In this way, if something happens in the future, it has nothing to do with the family behind them, it's just that a group of little girls accompanied the eldest princess down.

Therefore, on the eighth day of the eleventh lunar month, all the people set off from the palace in a car together to go to Yongyi Hou's mansion together.

Shen Zhiyi originally said that she wanted to go with Jiang Xuening, but before leaving, she was called by Empress Dowager Xiao, so she had to let them go first, and she would arrive later.

As a result, Jiang Xuening happened to be in the same car as Zhou Baoying.

After the incident of "borrowing pastries" last time, the relationship between the two has become much closer. But Chen Shuyi, Yao Xi and others seem to mind Zhou Baoying's affection for Jiang Xuening, they are always afraid that this little girl will be abducted by her vixen, it doesn't matter whether she is studying in Fengchen Palace or having a small gathering at Yangzhi Zhai , dragged Zhou Baoying, and was very wary of Jiang Xuening.

Zhou Baoying was also confused and didn't seem to care about these things.

Anyway, with something to eat in my mouth and a game of chess in my hand, I can sit for a whole day without hearing anything outside the window.

This time they were actually in the same car, Zhou Baoying danced and danced happily for a while.

After all, the peach slice cake last time was so memorable.

As soon as she got in the car, she hugged the big lead pillow, and Baba asked Jiang Xuening: "Sister Ning, they don't let me talk to you, and they don't let me come to you. These days, I'm almost starved to death! Then Peach slice cake, do you have any more?"

This is really which pot is not opened and which pot is lifted.

Jiang Xuening has also been talking about it for several days.

It's a pity that it was not made by her, nor by her cook, nor by the imperial dining room in the palace. These days, Xie Wei never mentioned anything other than learning piano and literature, as if he and Apart from the teacher-student relationship, there is indeed no other relationship between Jiang Xuening.

but…

This also seems to be true.

So Jiang Xuening was more and more afraid to ask anything, fearing that if he did something wrong and offended him, or he was too eager for the matter of appetite, it would cause him to think of the old things and be afraid of falling in love with her.

At this moment, she was sitting in the car, feeling a little helpless, smiled lightly, and said back to Zhou Baoying: "No more, just that, after I give half to you, I will eat the rest."

Zhou Baoying's small face immediately collapsed.

She frowned, and complained in a low voice: "If I knew this, I shouldn't be so generous when Mr. Xie took it away. I didn't even eat a few slices myself..."

"Mr. Xie?"

Jiang Xuening was startled suddenly.

"You said Mr. Xie?"

"Ah." Zhou Baoying nodded, looking a little dazed, and then she pursed her lips and said, "Sister Ning, you don't know, I took back the peach cake you gave me last time, and I ate a few slices. The ones I put down, I counted them before going to bed at night before putting them into paper bags, and I wanted to save them for the next day. I didn’t expect that when I sneaked out of the hall to eat the next day, I was bumped into by Mr. Xie.”

Jiang Xuening finally realized where he was wrong.

Zhou Baoying's steamed bun face was still a little angry: "I never thought that Mr. Xie is such a person! He asked about peach slice cakes, and I had to answer them. Before I entered the palace to study, my father taught me how to eat peach cakes. I respected the teacher, so I asked him to taste it. I thought he only took one piece, but he took the rest and asked me what was wrong! He was reluctant to eat it himself..."

"..."

Jiang Xuening's long eyelashes were drawn down, and she was in a daze for a moment.

The sound of horseshoes clattered, and the carriage shook slightly.

The things that had been sealed in the old memory of her previous life suddenly gradually became clear in the mist.

A gentleman stays away from the kitchen, just like women in some places are not allowed to enter the ancestral hall, it is one of the strictest rules of the aristocratic family.

Xie Wei is a gentleman and a saint.

But at that time, she was just a wild girl in the country, neither knew his identity nor understood the rules of this Lao Shizi. After hearing what the people in the house who came to pick her up said, she never doubted it, only thought that he was really What is the distant cousin who went to the capital to join Jiang's house.

After encountering bandits, they wandered among the mountains and fields, not knowing the news of other people, or even knowing how to get out of the predicament.

High mountains and deep valleys are like prisoners.

At that time, Xie Wei was not seriously ill, he just looked a little weak, accompanied by a cough that he had had since he first went to Beijing with her, he looked sickly, and he didn't like to talk to people very much.

Jiang Xuening already knew that she was the first daughter of the Jiang family.

The other party is just a distant relative who can't get along with each other.

She was afraid that others would think she was a country girl and would lose face when she came to Beijing, and she was also afraid that others would look down on her because of this, so even if she was in trouble, she still wanted to order Xie Wei to pick some wild fruits to eat, and hunt some prey to satisfy her hunger.

The result is of course immobile.

Since falling into the predicament, Xie Wei held his zither on his lap and sat on the collapsed rock, looking at the darkening sky between the mountains.

He couldn't seem to hear anything beside him.

In fact, he seemed to be thinking about something more serious than disaster, as if he had entered another world. But Jiang Xuening couldn't understand it at that time, he just thought that this person was very disrespectful to him, so he was a little annoyed.

I had no choice but to go by myself.

Of course, this is not very easy to come down to.

But Jiang Xuening had no other choice at that time. He turned around in his head and forced himself to find a reason: this sick seedling looks like it will fall after two steps, let alone go out to catch some pheasants and hares, just go out and pick them up. Some wild fruits, maybe even a single stagger could break her leg in the wilderness. At that time, wouldn't she still have to figure out how to carry this person on her back? That's not worth it.

So I quickly adjusted my mentality.

So those skills on the farm that were regarded by the nobles in Beijing as very low-level, finally came in handy.

There are no fruits in the winter mountains and forests.

But she tossed a trap with all her hands and feet, and was lucky enough to catch a stupid gray-haired hare, and hugged her in her arms all the way back to the bottom of the rock in a good mood.

The stupid rabbit in the mountains has never seen anyone, and when he was first caught, he was still thumping desperately.

But maybe Jiang Xuening was comfortable in her hug, and it was safely in her arms after a while.

She couldn't help showing off happily to Xie Wei who was sitting above: "Look! The rabbit I caught, is it good?"

Hearing the voice, Xie Wei finally turned his head to look at her, and also at the rabbit in her arms, his eyes were full of Chaochen's indifference, maybe even a little bit of pity.

Jiang Xuening also reached out to stroke its soft fur.

Xie Wei asked her calmly, "Light a fire?"

At that moment, her whole body froze.

Blinking his eyes, looking at Xie Wei, he couldn't recover.

Because, until Xie Wei asked this question, she suddenly remembered: This rabbit was caught to feed the hunger. She and Xie Wei have not eaten for some time, very hungry, very hungry.

She stood there not answering.

Xie Wei waited for her for a while, when the sky was dark, he probably knew she couldn't answer, so he didn't ask any more, but carefully put the piano in a corner where it was safe from wind and rain, and then walked aside , Gathering firewood and lighting a fire.

The fire was kindled.

The surrounding temperature also gradually rose, and the not very blazing flames diffused in the thick black night, shining on the figure of her holding the rabbit without letting go, swaying and casting it on the ground.

Xie Wei stood in front of her.

He is much taller than him.

The light from the fire next to him reflected on his face, and there were different shades of light and shade due to the depth of the outline. A pair of gloomy pupils gathered brilliance, and he only stretched out his hand towards her, intending to take the rabbit.

Jiang Xuening hugged him subconsciously, looked up at him and said, "We, let's eat something else, I, I'll get something else..."

Xie Wei stared at her silently: "Then are you willing to eat the next one?"

She stood there in a daze, not knowing how to answer.

Xie Wei still stretched out his hand.

She hugged the rabbit hard, not wanting to give it to him. But it was probably because she was too hard and hurt the rabbit, it actually bit the back of her hand, and she let it go in a moment of pain.

It jumped into Xie Wei's hands.

He actually took out a dagger tightly tied around his wrist from his wide sleeve robe.

Only then did Jiang Xuening realize that this man had a knife on him.

Now think about it, what kind of knife does a sick and weak young master from a distant cousin, a scholar with no strength to restrain a chicken, carry with him? Anyone with a knife hidden on their body is walking on the most dangerous path, ready for any accident at any time.

But at that time she was still stupid and didn't know how to think deeply.

Xie Wei grabbed the rabbit tightly, pressed it against the stone beside him, and was about to move the knife.

But she stood by and trembled.

Probably red eyes.

Seeing Xie Wei, the movement of his hands stopped, and after a while, he finally walked away without saying a word, carrying the rabbit. When he came back again, the stupid rabbit that was still alive and kicking just now had its fur peeled off, its internal organs cleaned out, it was put on a sharpened branch, and he lightly set it on the fire.

The man even found some wild leaf spices to sprinkle on.

Jiang Xuening hugged her knees, sat by the fire, bit her sleeves with her head buried in her head, so as not to shed tears.

Xie Wei roasted the rabbit, broke off a rabbit leg and handed it to her.

When she looked at it, the skin of the rabbit leg was golden, and the fat that had been roasted by the heat was still oozing, and it was stained with some unknown spices. The part of the torn part was thin and thin, and finally couldn't hold it back, crying "wow". out.

Cry until you choke, cry until you hiccup, cry until you are out of breath.

Xie Wei also felt sorry for her.

The protruding rabbit leg was not picked up, and she was not familiar with her, let alone how to persuade her, so she had no choice but to put her hand back, and ate beside her with a calm expression.

After eating a small half, she was still crying.

He stopped, looked at her for a while, took out a clean towel from his pocket, opened it and put it beside her.

There are a few petals of peach cake in it.

It's just not much, and it was crushed a lot in my pocket, wrapped in a handkerchief, and it didn't look very good.

Xie Wei said to her: "Eat this if you can't eat it."

Jiang Xuening was still hungry after all.

She also knew that the rabbit had to be eaten, but when she thought of the way it curled up obediently in her arms just now, she didn't want to eat it, and she didn't dare to eat it. Although she couldn't understand this sick relative who came from afar, she still picked up the handkerchief and ate the peach cake inside.

That was really the best pastry she had ever eaten in two lifetimes.

Sweet and soft.

Even with tears in it, I didn't feel bitter.

But after all, there is only so much.

After eating, it evokes the feeling of hunger even more.

So I became very angry.

Angry that he is a spineless person, he still took the other rabbit leg that Xie Wei handed over, continued to cry, gnawed on the perfectly roasted rabbit meat, and sobbed to find reasons for himself: " Who, who told it to dare to bite me..."

Xie Wei was quietly watching the fire beside him, seemed to have smiled, then disappeared without a word.

At that time, the fire had been burning for a long time.

There was a thin popping sound from the pine branches thrown in.

In fact, Jiang Xuening doesn't really remember the taste of the rabbit anymore, but she still remembers the soft and sweet taste of the peach cake, and Xie Wei's clean white clothes fell on the ground, stained with smokey dust, stained out some black...

When people are in a desperate situation, many things are ignored.

I will do things that I would not normally dare to do, and I will say things that I would not normally say.

People may also be different from usual.

In the face of life and death, everyone peels off the layers of hypocritical masks in the world, revealing the truest, perhaps the best, and perhaps the ugliest side of themselves.

But is it true that people are trying to live in a short-term desperation?

Or is it true that the people who work hard in the glitzy world are real?

Jiang Xuening really didn't know.

Seeing that she hadn't spoken for a long time, Zhou Baoying looked in a daze of joy or sorrow, feeling inexplicably uneasy, fearing that she had done something wrong, so she tugged on her sleeve carefully, and asked, "Yes, yes?" What's wrong?"

Jiang Xuening's eyes moved, and only then did she come back to her senses.

She bent her lips as if there was nothing, sighed softly and said, "It doesn't matter."

Xie Wei, his mind is really smaller than the tip of a needle.

The driver driving the horse in front stopped the carriage, and said to the inside: "Miss Jiang Er, the sword casting workshop is here."

Jiang Xuening said to Zhou Baoying: "I'm going down to pick up something, please wait for a while."

Zhou Baoying said "oh", and obediently sat in the car and waited for her.

The people in the sword casting workshop had known that she would come to pick up the sword today, so they had already made proper preparations.

The sword is three feet and two points long.

The blade of the sword is made of meteoric iron, polished to create waves like water waves. It is not decorated with gemstones or cast with gold and silver like the sword Yan Lin used before, but it is so simple and straightforward.

As soon as Qingfeng came out, the cold light was overwhelming.

In her previous life, she didn't know the depth of the world, but she only thought that Yan Lin was born as a general, and would lead soldiers to fight in the future, so she should have a murderous sword;

In this life, all the ups and downs have passed like smoke and dust, and looking at this sword again, it reveals a kind of tragic cruelty that is too timely.

How much do you think about that young man, who will always be as blazing and brilliant as the scorching sun?

But God forbid.

Jackals who secretly bared their fangs are not allowed.

After the swordsmith showed her the sword, he put it in the box and handed it to Jiang Xuening with both hands.

Unknowingly, she hugged him obliquely like holding a piano.

But when he got out of the door and arrived in front of the carriage, he realized that the sword case was not a qin and had to be laid flat.

Due to a delay at Jianjianfang, the carriage of Jiang Xuening and Zhou Baoying arrived at Yongyi Hou's mansion at exactly the right time.

It was probably because of today's Yan's crowning ceremony, the heavy soldiers who originally surrounded the mansion retreated to the sides.

It doesn't look so intimidating at first glance.

The guests who came were not too many, but they were not so few. They were all in front of the door, handed over the invitations one by one, and were ushered in by the smiling butler. .

Shen Zhiyi set off from the palace, but at this time she arrived almost at the same time as Jiang Xuening.

As soon as he lifted the curtain of the car and saw her, he called out: "Ning Ning!"

Jiang Xuening got out of the car holding the sword box.

Shen Zhiyi jumped out of the car directly, ignoring the frightened face of the servants in the palace, walked over to pull Jiang Xuening up, and ran into the gate of the Hou Mansion: "Come on, let's see Yan Lin!"

Who in the house doesn't know her?

No one stepped forward to stop her, but they all made way for her.

She also asked the waiter next to her, "Where is Yan Lin now?"

The butler laughed, with a very kind face: "The prince is talking with His Royal Highness King Yanping and the others outside Qingyu hall."

Shen Zhiyi knew the direction.

She came to Yongyihou's Mansion countless times when she was a child, and she could walk with her eyes closed. Now she didn't even want to stop for a moment, she dragged Jiang Xuening to run and run, bypassed the screen wall, walked through the hall, walked through the corridor, and finally I saw someone outside the Qingyu Hall near the water.

Shen Zhiyi then stretched out his hand and waved towards that side, shouting loudly: "Yan Lin!"

Everyone over there looked over.

The young man who was standing on the veranda by the water with his back to them, Qingfeng was straightening a fold of the corner of his brand-new robe for him, when he heard the sound, he turned his head to follow the prestige. It rises up like a morning star, scorching fiercely, extremely bright.

Yan Lin smiled at Shen Zhiyi first, and said, "You also come to join in the fun."

After she finished speaking, her eyes fell on the person beside her.

Shen Zhiyi turned her head and saw that Jiang Xuening was still standing there in a daze, so she pushed her. Jiang Xuening was pushed two steps forward, and stood in front of the young man a little caught off guard and at a loss.

Some days later, the outline of the boy became clearer and thinner, and it was also a little sharper than before.

But when looking at her, everything softened.

"You're here too."

The word "Ning Ning", who was originally the most intimate, was quietly buried in his heart, but he didn't want to call her "Miss Jiang Er" as unfamiliarly as others, so he simply greeted her like this.

The precarious situation of the Hou Mansion seems to have ceased to exist at this moment.

He looked down at the box she was holding, and asked her with a smile, "What is this?"

Only then did Jiang Xuening come to her senses. After a lifetime of life and death, she finally held the sword box in both hands and handed it to the young man. She stared at him and smiled back at him: "Birthday congratulations."

for you.

I wanted to give it to you in the last life.

May you always be like this sword edge.