A piece of Japanese incense

Under the dim moonlight, Yu Nian frowned, as if trying to make up his mind. He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, his voice low and hesitant: "Actually, Aunt He...has never severed contact with Master."

"What?" Zhi Yihe was stunned for a moment, then laughed out loud, kicked the stone away angrily, and said helplessly: "I'm really impressed!"

"Ah He, I have something important to tell you."

Yu Nian's serious look actually eased Zhi Yihe's mood: "Let's go! Let's talk inside." As he said that, he pulled Yu Nian's sleeve and walked into the yard.

"No! Let's go to the secret base!"

Zhi Yihe stopped and met Yu Nian's gaze: "No way, I am an elegant lady..."

"Stop talking nonsense and let's go!" Yu Nian didn't wait for Zhi Yi to finish her words. He took her hand and walked straight towards Huaxiangju.

Since they were young, Zhi Yihe and Yu Nian have loved climbing up the kapok tree with its fiery red flowers to play. As time goes by, the kapok tree becomes more and more luxuriant. Sitting on it, they can not only overlook the beautiful scenery, but also observe every move of the people under the tree.

So they made this agreement: to use the tall kapok tree as their secret base, and to bury the big things that needed to be hidden under the tree, and the small things on the tree.

As night fell, thanks to the unique bleakness of winter, the Kapok tree was nothing but dry branches and withered leaves. Zhi Yihe and Yu Nian climbed to the top of the branch, each found a sturdy branch, and sat down to rest.

"Oh~ Fortunately it's dark and I can't see clearly below, otherwise I would be scared to death!" Zhi Yihe patted his chest and gasped heavily.

Yu Nian looked around. In the silence, Yu Nian's voice seemed to drift away without a trace of emotion: "Ah He, do you know that Aunt He secretly gave Master a lot of money?"

Zhi Yihe's breathing stagnated, and he couldn't help but tighten the branch in his hand: "Is the Prince Consort very short of money? Do you need help from others?"

"In fact, I have never told you that over the years, I have been secretly delivering letters for Master and Aunt He..."

Yu Nian was unable to catch the change in Zhi Yihe's expression, and could only continue to speak: "When I was still young, I only delivered some letters. Since I entered the Imperial College, I have delivered everything from simple packages to heavy wooden boxes.

The master just said that because I went home so few days, so there were more letters. I just thought that they still had feelings for each other, but because of the status of the prince consort and the face of the royal family, we couldn't be together openly.

Until last year's Mid-Autumn Festival, I took Aunt He's box to the master as usual, but I ran into Brother Jinqi on the way. When he saw me holding the wooden box, he jokingly wanted to unlock the poem lock on the box. During the argument, he actually opened the box. "

With a "crack", Zhi Yihe broke the dry branch in his hand and asked nervously, "What's in the box?"

"Yes...some silver notes of one hundred taels, gold hairpins and jade bracelets, and...gold and silver ingots."

"Maybe... the prince consort needs to socialize or something... right!" Zhi Yihe blurted out.

"At first, I thought so too. However, I couldn't help but secretly peek a few times afterwards..."

Zhi Yihe hurriedly asked, "A lot of gold and silver as well?"

Yu Nian nodded, and thinking that she couldn't see him, he agreed, "Yes, no more, no less."