Golden Branch

Snapped!

After receiving Wang Heng's order, the driver cracked his whip and the carriage started moving.

Lou Yu stood there, watching quietly.

The two-horse carriage came onto the official road and slowly turned into a small black dot until it disappeared.

"Lang Jun!"

The guards led their horses to Lou Yu and reminded him, "It's getting late. It's time to go to the government office!"

Lou Yu didn't say anything. He took the reins, flipped over, and jumped onto the horse's back.

"drive!"

Lou Yu knocked the stirrup hard, and the Dayuan horse under his crotch began to run quickly.

Aheng is gone, and it will take three to five months at the fastest, or seven to eight months at the slowest to come back.

Lou Yu has a lot of errands to do.

The teaching in the Hongwenguan, the overall management of history compilation, as well as many other affairs such as the court and the Eastern Palace.

In addition, the sage intends to compile a new family genealogy "Clan Records", and Lou Yu will also participate in this matter.

Compared with compiling history, clan chronicles are more concerned by major families in the capital.

This is a major matter that concerns the rise and fall, honor and disgrace of one's own family.

The top clans want to maintain their dignity and honor.

The second-level clans want to go one step further and become the top clans.

The newly rising poor and common people want to enter the aristocratic families and become the envy of the world.

However, the aristocratic families did not want those small families to step onto their stage and take away the clan's privileges.

A clan history book involves too many families. It is not just a surname or an identity, but also a struggle for interests and rights.

The mentality of a saint is rather contradictory.

On the one hand, as a ruler, he had to break the monopoly of the aristocratic families and maintain imperial rule.

The royal family and the aristocratic families are in an antagonistic relationship.

On the other hand, the saint was influenced by the secular world. He suppressed the aristocratic families, but he also admired them.

Including the former emperor, the Yang royal family tried their best to give themselves a noble birth.

The Yang family was originally a noble family in the northern border. Their original surname was not even Yang, but they still claimed to be the Hongnong Yang family.

When the Yang family got married, the brides they chose were basically from aristocratic families in the north.

After the emperor or saint ascended the throne, whether he wanted to expand his harem or marry his sons and nephews, the people he sought to marry were girls from aristocratic families such as Li, Lu, Wei, Zheng, and Wang.

"When it comes to a saint and an aristocratic family, he generally wants both. He wants to be a respected son of an aristocratic family, but he doesn't want the aristocratic family to be above the imperial power."

Wang Heng once discussed the saint's contradictory mentality with Lou Yu in private.

This is also human nature. We hate a certain existence, but we also want to become it.

Lou Yu has a more peaceful mentality.

Although the Lou family had been wealthy for over a hundred years, they were still a little short of becoming a prominent family.

After all, the threshold for becoming a noble family is to have a family history of 200 years and several generations of officials.

The Lou family is a family of military honors, with generations of generals. They have a small number of civil officials, but none of them has become prime minister, and at most they have been among the Nine Ministers.

Unless it is based solely on the rank of the nobility, the Lou family, with two dukes in the same family, is not qualified to be written into the clan annals.

Although I have no chance to participate in such a grand event, I can still take part in it.

What Lou Yu has to do is to cheer for the royal family and seek greater benefits for the saint and the prince!

Now that Ah Heng is gone, Lou Yu can focus on doing things, ah, building his career!

……

The carriage entered the official road, and the wheels left two deep ruts.

Zheng Shiliu opened the oil paper package, revealing the still steaming Hu pancake.

Baizhi brought a basin of water and a cotton towel. Wang Heng washed and dried her hands before picking up the Hu pancake.

The cake is still hot and exudes a unique aroma.

Wang Heng ate in small bites.

Her appetite is very small now, and she can only eat one-third of a Hu pancake that is the size of an adult man's palm.

“…It smells so good!”

Wang Heng chewed it slowly. The sweet aroma of wheat mixed with the oily and sesame aroma of the Hu Bing was rich in flavor and just the right softness and hardness.

"The Hu Bing from Granny Hu's shop in the West Market is a unique delicacy in the capital."

Zheng Shiliu had tasted this Hu Bing and knew how delicious it was.

Wang Heng did not respond, because she suddenly discovered that the Hu Bing today was particularly sweet.

It's not just the taste itself, there is also a taste called "heart".

In the past, I always heard people say that things made by hand, even if they were not exquisite, were a token of thought.

At that time, Wang Heng didn't care at all and firmly believed that doing something by hand and doing it well is the true meaning of the heart.

If you make it yourself and it turns out badly, that's disgusting.

But at this moment, while eating the hot and fragrant Hu Bing, the burn could not help but flash through her mind. Wang Heng's heart seemed to be soaked in a hot spring, moist and warm.

There is also an inexplicable feeling of being touched and bittersweet... Is this what "thought" means?

In the face of this kind of "thoughtfulness", it seems unimportant whether the Hu Bing is cold or hot, delicious or unpalatable.

Wang Heng even tasted "sweetness".

Wang Heng is smart, but she was not very smart before, so she can comment on love so casually.

Today, in an instant, she was touched.

She felt the affection and began to feel shy and nervous about matters between men and women.

She suddenly realized that her brother was not just a brother, he was also a grown man, her future husband!

“Is this the taste of love?”

"It's a little sweet and slightly sour."

"Brother treats me so well, shouldn't I also return the favor?"

After eating the Hu Bing, Wang Heng washed her hands again.

Holding a cotton towel, she gently wiped a pair of flawless delicate hands.

Wang Heng stared at her hands, somewhat dazed.

She was born into a noble family and was spoiled since childhood.

A pair of delicate hands, not only have they never touched water, but they have also never held a needle, twirled thread, or made soup.

The few thin calluses on the fingertips are also left by holding a pen.

Until she was fifteen or sixteen years old, Wang Heng had never done any work other than writing and painting.

"A Mian once gave Xiao Wuji a purse embroidered by hand, and Shisan Niang even bought all of Yang Shou's underwear."

"A Mian and Xiao Wuji are in love, and Shisan Niang and Yang Shou are also very respectful to each other."

"Whether they love each other or work hard together, they are a loving couple in the eyes of the world..."

Wang Heng has not come into contact with too many couples.

The only role models she could learn from were her close friends Wang Mian, Zheng Shisan and others.

In order to express their love to the person they like, women like Wang Mian and Zheng Shisan would do their own needlework and cook for them.

Cooking?

just forget it.

There will be smoke and fire, and you may also get burned or cut.

Wang Heng just thought about it and rejected it.

Do needlework?

Uh, it seems there's also a possibility of being pricked by a needle.

Wang Heng instinctively wanted to cross out this option, but inexplicably, she thought of the red spot on the snow-white chest.

Forget it, just give it a shot.

Besides, she is so smart and dexterous that she might not be pricked.

……

"Bai Wei, please teach me how to make a sachet!"

After Wang Heng made her decision, she called Bai Wei, the most skilled maid among the four maids.

She got straight to the point, "I want to make a sachet by myself. Tell me in detail how to cut it, how to compose it, how to embroider it..."

Bai Wei was stunned for a moment, "Princess, you, you want to do it yourself?"

"If you want a sachet and you think the needlework shop can't make it well, then let this servant make it for you!"

Bai Wei had served Wang Heng for several years and knew her little girl's "particularities" best.

She loves details and cleanliness.

Don’t use something unless it is high-quality and clean.

Whether it is the royal family or the princess's mansion, there is a special sewing room.

However, since the sewing room has to supply sewing for the entire mansion, it is inevitable that the work may not be refined or sophisticated enough occasionally.

Wang Heng was picky and basically never went to the sewing room for her underwear, handkerchiefs, purses and other small items.

Instead, it was Bai Wei and other trusted maids who did it.

When Bai Wei heard Wang Heng say that she wanted to make the sachets herself, she thought that her lover disliked the sewing room again.

"You don't have to do it, I can do it myself!" Wang Heng said firmly.

Bai Wei didn't understand and was even more worried: "But, Princess, you've never touched a needle and sew—"

"That's why I need you to teach me!"

Wang Heng said as a matter of course.

Bai Wei: ...That makes so much sense that I am speechless.

Confused and complaining, Bai Wei still obediently took out the cloth, needle and thread and other things.

She taught one by one -

Different things require different fabrics.

For the selected fabric, you need to choose the corresponding embroidery thread according to the color, pattern, etc.

There are still some details to be processed.

Bai Wei felt that teaching Wang Heng needlework was harder than doing it herself.

It’s not that Wang Heng is stupid and unteachable, but that this master is too lazy and too pampered.

It is more than 1,500 miles from the capital to Yizhou. If one travels 30 to 40 miles a day, it will take more than a month.

During this short period of time, Wang Heng has been learning and making sachets.

It was not until the twelfth lunar month, when Princess Langya's carriage arrived in Yizhou, that Wang Heng managed to embroider a few leaves.

Bai Wei: ...In more than a month, I can make a box of sachets.

Wang Heng, on the other hand, only embroidered a few stitches every day.

If it is cloudy, snowy, or the weather is bad, or if there is insufficient light, she won't move a needle.

Bai Wei: ...According to this process, it will take the princess at least several months to make a purse!

Perhaps, by the time they return to Beijing, the princess’s sachet may not even be ready!

Lou Yu, who was far away in the capital, had received the news—

"Aheng is making sachets by herself?"

As for the fact that he only embroidered a few leaves in more than a month, Lou Yu didn't care at all.

He only cared about one thing: "Aheng, did this for me?"

It’s not Lou Yu’s fault for feeling good about himself, but rather, he and Wang Heng are the most important people to each other.

If Wang Heng really had her first time in life, it must have been related to him.

It’s the same as all the major transformations in Lou Yu’s life, Wang Heng has participated in them all!

"Little girl, do you finally understand what 'feelings' mean?"

Lou Yu couldn't help but touch his chest, where the burns had healed.

But Lou Yu seemed to still be able to feel the burning sensation and the dull pain.

Perhaps, it is not the skin that is burned, but an already restless heart.

Lou Yu had anticipated a surprise, so even though he didn't receive it, he was in a very good mood. The next day at court, Duke Qi of Qi, Master Lou, didn't seem to be so harsh when he scolded others.

Officials in the court: ...Oh no, that little venomous tongue is finally going to "become a good person"?!