Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

The steward of the Yan Mansion held a lantern in her hand, and she walked slowly and slowly. She used the lantern to illuminate the ground under her feet, and said carefully: "Guests carefully step, the night is heavy and the road is a bit slippery."

The man behind raised his hem, nodded and said, "Thank you."

The steward turned sideways to avoid it, and said, "You speak too seriously."

The servant leading the way in front was a little surprised, not knowing which distinguished guest this is, who came to visit late at night, and was actually received by the chief steward of the mansion in person.

The man was about forty or fifty years old, although he wore a cloth robe and tied his hair with a wooden hairpin, he had a sense of elegance and nobility.

The steward took her to the study room, saluted her and said: "Guests please, my lord has been waiting in the room for a long time." After saying that, he led the rest of the people out of the yard.

The man put his hand on the door, and seemed to be hesitant to push it open. At the same time, a voice came from the study: "He's here? Please come in."

The door of the study was pushed open, and the lights inside were bright. Yan Minghua was leaning against a mahogany carving of thousands of mountains and rivers, with a blanket on his knees, like an ordinary old man.It is far from the usual image of the chief minister of the cabinet in the official robe decorated with crimson cranes and a jade belt around the waist. Only a stack of documents and a half-opened printing box on the small table at hand make people aware of her identity of.

The old man closed the Chinese book in his hand and said, "Zhi Jiang, you are here."

Zhijiang is the name of the second assistant Shen Mingshan, and now the only one who can call her that is Yan Minghua, the first assistant.

Shen Mingshan walked to her side, saluted and said, "Ge Lao."

Yan Minghua shook his head with a smile and said: "If you are not on duty in the court, you and I are ordinary people, so there is no need to be so polite."

Shen Mingshan said: "Rites cannot be discarded."

She said she insisted on finishing the salute, Yan Minghua rubbed his eyes, and sighed: "You haven't set foot in my house for more than 20 years. The last time you came to my house for a visit, you came with Liu Chaoqing, Master Liu. In a blink of an eye Just 20 years have passed, this time is really fast, look at you and me, we are already old and out of shape."

Shen Mingshan sat down on a chair at the side, and said: "At that time, I was just a small civil servant. Mr. Liu had already entered the cabinet to pay homage to his prime minister. He was entrusted by my mentor and supported me a lot. He often led me to the Shangguan's house. visit."

Yan Minghua squinted his eyes, and said: "Liu Chaoqing is a good person, she has a kind heart, but she is just a little impatient."

Shen Mingshan didn't speak, she stared at Yan Minghua who was hunched over, feeling a little dazed for a while.The kind-hearted Mr. Liu Chaoqing they talked about, but less than a year after entering the cabinet, he was reprimanded and demoted to Minzhou for admonishing the late emperor.

The candles on the table were already half lit, Yan Minghua said leisurely: "I am already half buried, you are still young, and the burden of the court and the cabinet will fall on you in the future. It's not heavy. But I don't know why you came here tonight?"

Shen Mingshan was silent for a long time, stood up and knelt down, said: "Ge Lao, I am just a person who is going to retreat, I can't block the wind, and I can't block the rain. But I have to think about the people below, if Your Majesty wants to attack the cabinet, what will the officials behind you do?"

Yan Minghua looked at her and said, "What does it mean that His Majesty is taking action against the Cabinet? The Cabinet serves His Majesty and is naturally used by His Majesty. If His Majesty does not use it, leave the Cabinet aside. No matter reward or punishment, it is a gift from God. What can you do?"

She lowered her eyelids, as if she was very sleepy, and her breath was weak, Shen Mingshan was so close to her, he could only see a slight rise and fall of her chest.The dying old state was really shocking, and she couldn't help but look at her hands. Once upon a time, these hands were as white as jade, holding a pen and ink to draw pictures, and a vermilion brush held the power of life and death.Shen Mingshan lowered his head, as if he wanted to look carefully, but he heard Yan Minghua look out of the window, and then said in a low voice: "It's raining...the rain came too suddenly."

She couldn't help trembling in her heart, raised her head and said, "Old Ge."

Yan Minghua took off the blanket on his knees, stood up slowly while supporting the armrest, and said, "Zhijiang, after all these years, you still haven't understood that no matter who it is, whether it's a virtuous minister or a treacherous minister, it's still the same sentence In other words, everything is determined by the holy will. When the water is pure, there will be no fish. You care too much about your reputation, and you can distinguish so clearly where the turbidity is. You and I are nothing more than a knife in the hands of His Majesty. It’s time to use it, that’s all.”

Shen Mingshan stood up to help her, but she gently pushed him away.Brown age spots had already appeared on the face of this chief assistant who had gone through two dynasties, Shen Mingshan said softly: "Master Ge, don't you think about fighting?"

"What are you fighting for? What are you going to fight for?" Yan Minghua turned his head and said, "Do you think you can do anything if you can install officials in the six states and make Hezhou officialdom into the cabinet's backyard? Let me tell you, you You will never be able to compete with His Majesty, if you want to fight, and threaten His Majesty with the matter of Hezhou, you are probably crazy!"

Shen Mingshan was scolded by her head and face, but he paused slightly, and then said: "If it wasn't for the fact that the account book was found out by Yuan Sui..."

Yan Minghua opened his eyes wide, looked at her strangely and said, "Are you still thinking about that ledger? Do you really think that you will be fine without that ledger? Whether you are short-lived or greedy, there has always been, why? Your Majesty doesn't keep this evidence to revolt in the future, but just because of this stubborn point, he has to withdraw your people regardless of the criticism of the government and the public, have you ever thought about it carefully, why?"

As if being struck by lightning, Shen Mingshan lowered his head and said, "Master Ge, please teach me."

"As a cabinet minister, the top and bottom of the cabinet should advance and retreat together." Yan Minghua poured a cup of tea tremblingly, moistened his mouth and said, "I will never forget this truth. Even if you and I fight For many years, after leaving the cabinet, we discussed and carried out all major issues together. Zhijiang, if you can’t hold your breath like this, I will leave in the future and the cabinet will really be over.”

She smiled wryly and said, "It's not your fault, nor is it in the cabinet. From what I've seen, since His Majesty took the throne, although she hasn't made any big moves, she must plan to do it later. You and I may have only seen these ten moves. But Your Majesty has seen a thousand steps, what are you going to fight with her, and what are you going to fight for? I am old and useless. I served the late emperor, and now I should write a letter to beg for bones and return to my hometown. Yes. But His Majesty put me in this position, is it for the sake of looking good? Just want to use me to beat you and tell the civil and military of the whole court that she is the master of this world! Thunder, rain and dew are all God's blessings, and she is this sky!"

Shen Mingshan's face was pale, and the fingers in his sleeves kept shaking.After Yan Minghua finished speaking, he was out of breath, and sat back on the edge of the table.Shen Mingshan was dumb, and said: "It's me, I never understood this meaning."

Yan Minghua closed his eyes, and said lightly: "You take her too lightly, don't you? Indeed, compared with King Qi, her reputation is not very good, and the identity of the princess who lives among the people has been suspected again and again; In comparison, the family background is too weak, and the father's family is powerless. After much deliberation, I can't think of it, but in the end it was her..."

Shen Mingshan became short of breath because of her disrespectful words, Yan Minghua suddenly opened his eyes, looked at her firmly and said: "But the late emperor didn't only have one daughter!"

There was a sudden thunder and heavy rain fell, only then did Shen Mingshan realize that he had been standing for an unknown amount of time, and one leg was already numb.But right now she didn't care about the numbness of her legs, she stared at Yan Minghua closely and said, "You mean—"

The candle was half-burned, and the wick was dipped in the oil, flickering on and off.With the tip of her tongue against her teeth, she finally managed to utter two words: "Prince Gong."

Thunder was rolling, dark clouds covered the sky, and a heavy rain was about to come.

Qingping sat in the hotel and listened to the reports of her subordinates. Before she could open her mouth, the thunder crashed, and the whole house trembled with the force of landslides. She raised her head and put her hands on the stack of documents. In the gap between the thunder, he said: "If there is nothing important, then go and rest. It's not too late to talk about it tomorrow."

The man glanced around, his eyes showed hesitation, after Qingping nodded his head as a signal, she followed her words and then left the room.

Leaning on the table, Qingping took out a piece of yellowed parchment from a story book, on which most of the profound meaning of scriptures drawn with a gold pen had been wiped away, and those strange words were like yellow sand, blown by the wind in the change of time scattered.

She lowered her eyelashes, lowered her head to look at the story she had already learned by heart, and her fingers slid on the paper. The thunder outside the house did not know when it died down. mark.

Qing Ping's eyes lingered on the paper, and after looking at it for a long time, he felt a headache, so he pressed his forehead for a while.In this precarious night, it is difficult for people to fall asleep peacefully. Everything that happened in the past seems to be in front of them, and they can be touched by reaching out.

She simply stopped thinking about it, blowing out the candles, listening to the sound of the rain outside and falling asleep with her clothes on.Suddenly there was a scream in the heavy rain, piercing through the night and reaching people's ears, piercing people's hearts.

Qingping's eyelids moved, he ignored it, turned over to cover his head, and just fell asleep.

In the morning of the next day, the rain was still falling, after Qing Fang finished washing, he listened to his followers knock on the door outside and said: "My lord, something has happened."

"In this hotel, there are monsters that eat people!"

With a piercing cry, the official stomped his feet anxiously and said, "Shut up! Drag her down quickly!"

Several guards in charge of guarding the mansion quickly pressed the servant's mouth, and dragged her down. Qingping saw this scene at the time, the blood on the steps was mixed with rainwater, and the official saw her coming , without bothering to wipe off the water from his face, he said in a low voice: "My lord, why did I startle you, it's just a trivial matter..."

Qingping smiled and said, "What's the matter? Didn't you say that a corpse was found here?"

The official's face changed slightly, and he said vaguely: "Yes...a servant was frightened by the thunder when he got up last night, and accidentally fell on the steps. Because it was late at night and it was raining heavily, no one noticed. , and that’s what killed him.”

Qing Ping nodded, the official didn't think it would be so easy to get away, he breathed a sigh of relief, but he heard her say: "Lead the way."

The officer's face was slightly distorted, and he forced a smile and said: "My lord, what way to take, I don't understand—"

She was silent under Qingping's gaze, and her entourage stood up and said seriously: "Do you still need to ask, our adults want to see that corpse!"

The official hesitated and refused for a while, but finally lost his temper, and said with a mournful face: "My lord, this man died a horrible death, don't stain your eyes!"

Qingping said mildly: "The physical body is just an empty shell. People are dead. No matter how bad this empty shell is, you can still look at it."

The official almost knelt on the ground, and was supported by Qingping's guards to stand upright, after walking through half of the hotel, and came to the door of a firewood house in the backyard, the official covered his mouth and said, "That's right, right here. "

The entourage pushed open the door, and a swollen corpse soaked in rainwater was still dripping on a temporary wooden bed in the firewood room.

Then his eyes moved to the face of the corpse, and he paused slightly.Turning back to Qingping, he lowered his head and asked for instructions: "My lord?"

When Qing Ping stepped into the door, he saw that the corpse was covered in blood from the face to the ears, two dark deep holes were left for the eyes, and the nose was cut off.The officials were fighting between the two groups, and they couldn't make a sentence: "My lord...don't...look, it's not good..."

Qingping turned around and said: "Take her down to rest."

The guard should come and take the officer away.Qingping stood for a while, looked at the group of followers, and said: "Come on, be bolder, go and see if the tongue is still in this person's mouth?"

Tonight, Le'an ushered in a light rain. The city was covered with mist, and it was wet everywhere. There was an unspeakable aura of decay, which made people feel ominous.

It was late at night, and Wu Yue was still sitting in the hall. In the dim light, she was wearing a pleated skirt woven with gold makeup and flowers, and a skirt pressed with jade rings. The embroidery patterns on the skirt were covered with gold threads, and the patterns of flowers and birds disappeared with the movement. Now, gorgeous and expensive.Her hand touched the already cold teacup, and she asked in a low voice: "Where is the person who went to check the news, hasn't come back yet?"

The steward standing aside said: "I think it's Yunzhou Luyao, it's not so fast. Even if I come back tonight, the city gate is closed, I'm afraid I can enter the city tomorrow. Miss, why don't you go to the meeting, tomorrow they come back, we I'll tell you again."

Wu Yue shook his head and said: "No need, I will sit in this hall tonight and wait for them to come back."

The steward glanced at her face, swallowed those words of persuasion, went outside the house and ordered the servants to serve tea, and then stood under the eaves to wait.

She has stayed in this old mansion for decades, and she has seen the extremely lively and prosperous scene in this mansion. It is not an exaggeration to say that the flowers are blooming and the fire is cooking oil.Now in the rain at night, the ground is deserted. In order to avoid disasters, several rooms of the master's house have been moved away. Except for some servants, there are not many people in the house.

The drizzle silently soaked into the sleeves with the wind, and the wet cloth clinged to the skin, and the cold feeling went straight to the bottom of my heart.A servant brought tea, the steward reached out to take it, and there was a clear knock on the door in the vast rainy night.

Wu Yue was resting with her eyes closed, when she suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming from outside the house, she opened her eyes, saw the steward rushing in, and said: "Miss, the ancestor sent someone to invite you over."

Wu Yue was not surprised, took tea and blew on it, and said slowly: "Tell her that I have already rested, and I will go to apologize to grandma tomorrow."

The steward trembled for no reason, lowered his voice and said: "The man said, your people are all at the ancestor's place now—"

With a soft sound, the tea cover in Wu Yue's hand knocked on Zhan's body, and the dense water vapor blurred her face, and the steward could only see the golden light on the hem of the skirt.Wu Yue drank the tea calmly, and ordered: "In that case, then prepare the carriage."

Wu Yue's grandmother, Wu You, was a Jinshi during the Gengzi period. When the first emperor was in power, she was awarded the Chang'an Order, and was later transferred to Hezhou to be the county magistrate in Wuyang County.She has been an official for [-] years, and her old life has spread all over Hengzhou and Hezhou. After retiring, she left the Wu family's old house and lived in a house in the south of the city.

She didn't like the old house, and once told her daughters that she had devoted her whole life to the Wu family's future, and she didn't want to continue to carry heavy burdens.She doesn't need to be served by descendants, she just wants to live in peace by herself.

This house looks small, but after entering it, I realized that there is a hidden hole in the sky.The courtyard in the house is very deep and the gate is tall.Going around the screen wall, passing through the hanging flower gate, and entering a courtyard, you can hear the sound of water, which is crisp and pleasant.I saw that the ground in the courtyard was dug open, and the running water flowed in from the back mountain. The sidewalks were paved with many pebbles. Because of the nourishment of the water vapor, the flowers and trees in the courtyard were particularly luxuriant.Going further in, there is a huge house in front of you, with flying eaves and brackets, carved beams and embroidered columns, Danying carved Jue, and a plaque with four big characters in regular script, "Qingfeng Sulai", which fully shows the character of a scholarly family.

The servants stood on both sides and slowly opened the door. Wu Yue raised his skirt and stepped into the inner hall. Looking up, there was another plaque reading "Yaju Chunhui".Re-entering from this hall, one can see a carved wooden door filled with colorful colored glaze. There was no one standing at the door twice. She pushed the door open by herself, and a white-haired old man sat on the upper seat in the room. Young people also need to be mentally capable.

Wu Yue knelt down and kowtowed, "Grandmother."

Wu You has reached an octogenarian age, and due to proper maintenance, he does not look old at all.She looked the granddaughter up and down, saw that she was fully dressed, raised her eyebrows and said, "Why, are you here to oppose me?"

Wu Yue said: "Granddaughter dare not, but the day before yesterday I heard that my aunt came to pay a visit to my grandmother's house, and I knew that my grandmother would summon me, so I changed this dress, so as not to lose my manners in front of the elders."

The old man looked at her for a while, waved his hands, and said with a smile: "Pretending to be polite, when I was a child in my house, I was naked and stubborn, climbing mountains and trees, omnipotent, now I'm putting on airs? Tea."

Wu Yue closed his eyes and sat down. Hearing this, his complexion was as usual, but his ears were stained pink.She said steadily: "I was ignorant when I was young, and my grandmother worried about me."

The old man glanced at her, and the red treasure pendant by his ear shone slightly, and said: "Sit down, your aunt did come to my house a few days ago, but I was too lazy to see her a few times ago, those old sesame seeds in the clan are rotten." I don't want to worry about Gu Zi's troubles anymore."

Wu Yue remained silent and continued to sit, looking down at the ground.

"It's rare that she didn't tell me something about the family. It's rare. Yue Niang, you are the child I watched grow up, and now you are our head of the family. Can you tell grandma that at this time , why are you going to see Yuan Sui?" The old man's brows moved slightly, and he said slowly: "I know that you have always acted properly, but this time you are indeed wrong. I told your mother before, and I also talked to those idiots in the clan. I also said, don’t get too involved in party disputes. No matter which one your majesty appoints as a princess, can the courtiers still surpass the master? Well, they just don’t listen, thinking that after the king of Qi takes office, he will definitely remember Wu Thanks to the family, hehe..."

After saying that, the old man couldn't help but sighed, and shook his head helplessly.

After a moment of silence, Wu Yue said: "Grandmother, do you know the empty coffin in the yard behind the ancestral hall in the old house?"

The old man half-closed his eyes and said, "I know, what's wrong?"

Wu Yue raised his head slowly, looked at her, and said, "Wu Yi, how much do you know?"

The old man looked at her calmly, and Wu Yue continued: "My aunt must not know about this matter. When my granddaughter went to see Mr. Yuan, she presented the contents of the coffin."

There was a strange smile on the old man's old face, and she said, "Do you know what you are doing?"

Wu Yue said: "Granddaughter knows that Master Yuan is definitely not here to investigate the case of ink corruption in Hezhou, she is just making a fuss."

The old man let out a long sigh, and said softly: "If my Wu family is overthrown, all the blame will be on you. Kneel down."

Wu Yue knelt on the ground without hesitation, kowtowed and said: "The Wu family is in a precarious situation, the building will fall, and only the decayed parts will fall."

"Very good, courageous and courageous." The old man said, "Today you will kneel here to answer your questions. Your people are still waiting in the backyard. If you have any questions, just ask quickly."

Wu Yue said slowly: "After checking by the granddaughter, the lineage of the fifth uncle was originally adopted by the clan to Wu Yi's name, why did it end up in the master's family?"

The old man's throat moved slightly, and he said: "Because Wu Yi's lineage was originally the master's family. After her death, there was no one in the master's house, and the second house became the master. One of the clan was selected to belong to her name. Later, the clan repaired the genealogy and recorded it. The people in the house were confused for a moment, so they attributed their house to my grandmother. Your fifth uncle and I were cousins, but they didn't live in the old house, but lived in Hengzhou. Later, my cousin died of illness, Her husband also passed away in depression, I pity that this son has no one to raise her, so I simply put her under my name and raise her together with your mother and aunt, that's all."

Wu Yue's heart moved, but she heard her say: "When my grandmother was here, I also asked her why the empty coffin was sealed in the pavilion behind the ancestral hall. She just told me that if I became the head of the family one day, she would naturally He will tell me the reason, and let me take good care of the descendants of the ancestor Wu Yi's lineage. It's just that I never told your mother about the reason."

Wu Yue said: "Why?"

A hint of sarcasm flashed in the old man's eyes, and he said: "She has worked so hard to study her official career, she wished that the whole court would take the Wu surname, if I told her, something would happen to her, it would be better not to say anything."

Wu Yue leaned over and kowtowed, "But now, you have to say it."

The old man stared at her young face and whispered: "Yes, but let me tell you, what can you do?"

Wu Yue said earnestly: "What can't be broken can't be built, grandma, you have gone through three dynasties, you understand this truth better than your granddaughter."

"Smelly girl." The old man's face softened, he laughed and cursed, and then said: "Yes, I have been here for so many years... You should look up first."

Wu Yue raised his head as he said, and on top of his head was an old plaque with the inscription 'Wei Shan De Xin', with auspicious clouds carved on the side, like some ancient relic.

"This is a plaque inscribed by Wu Changyun, the state shepherd, as a gift to our Wu family after the national war more than 300 years ago. At that time, Lingnan was mostly the residence of the aristocratic family, but it was unexpected that most of it was lost in this war. Now you Those aristocratic families I saw were just pretending to be the shell of the predecessors. Wu Changyun became the prime minister and entered the cabinet. He was a first-grade official and ranked among the 24 virtuous ministers in the Xianchen Pavilion. This is all for later... "

Wu Yue's thoughts turned quickly, and the old man said in a teasing voice: "Do you think that Wu Changyun's surname is Wu, and she has a relationship with our Wu family? Giving a plaque is just a casual thing? No, at that time Wu Yue The surname is already a wealthy family in Hezhou, and she is from Qiongzhou. She came from an ordinary family and is not a woman from a noble family. Our Wu family has nothing to do with this lord. We can get this plaque only because during that war, we Although the Wu family is a scholarly family, they also fought bloody battles, desperately guarding the waterway from Le'an to Hengzhou, so that the soldiers of the Western Army stopped here and were not allowed to enter Chang'an."

There are only a few words left in her words about the bloody storm of history, and the past is buried in the dusty history books, no matter how time flies, the waves are still turbulent.The old man said leisurely: "There are only five of the 23 clans in Lingnan, which are the ones you see now. In the past, the Rao family was the head, but now that the Rao family has fallen, everyone only knows the Xie family in Lingnan. It was Xie's doing, do you think it's ridiculous?"

She stretched out her hand, stroked Wu Yue's temple hair, lowered her eyes and said in a low voice: "Wu Changyun gifted our Wu family a plaque because of our great achievements, and she also presented plaques to the clans in Lingnan, most of which were families of heroes. Only Xie's family never received a plaque from her, only one from the imperial court. Why Wu Changyun only avoided Xie's family, why Xie's family lived in the south of Lingnan, and never set foot in the north of Lingnan..."

She stood up suddenly, withdrew her hand and said coldly: "Because they are not worthy!"

The author has something to say: leg hair.