Yezhao Sandbar

In the fifth year of Emperor Yan, starting from Jiayuguan in the west and ending at Jincheng in the east, he set up a feudal vassal and enshrined Duan Qianmo, the prince of Rongrui, as the king of the Western vassal.

The Xifan Prince's Mansion was built in Suzhou, not far from Jiayuguan, a day's journey away.

Some people tried to dissuade them. Several tribes outside the pass were having a good time, and those barbarians were lawless. Although Jiayuguan was heavily guarded, if they really attacked, they would reach the Xifan Palace in less than a day. This is too dangerous.

In the cold weather of late autumn, Duan Qianmo was still waving his folding fan lightly, and smiled disapprovingly and rolled his peach blossom eyes, "It's too late for those people to bite dogs, how can they have time to take care of this king, hehe, go and recruit some pleasing to the eye!" servants, this king’s new residence will be decorated with beauties.”

The stewards of Xifan Prince's Mansion select servants to serve Wang Jia in the palace. Even if they can't enter the inner courtyard and only serve in the outer courtyard, they have to choose thousands of servants.

Don't look at the innocence of the family background, don't look at the identity documents, don't look at the sponsor's recommendation letter, just look at the appearance, body, body, and skin color.

Have a scar?

no!The master looked disgusted.

Too dark?

no!Scared the master at night.

too high?

no!The master will feel oppressed.

too thin?

no!The palace does not accept refugees.

The request was so strange, it was simply making things difficult, but the candidates came one after another, and there was a long queue early in the morning.

The conditions offered by the palace are very attractive. If you sign a five-year long contract, you will get ten taels of silver per month, and if you sign a one-year short contract, you will get six taels of silver per month. Six taels a month can support a family of eight, like in Suzhou. This kind of border town, a place where it is hard to recover after a year of war and ten years, can find this kind of errand, who would not want to try it.

"Mixed fish and dragons..."

The butler looked at the infinitely long queue and shook his head.

The gatekeeper smiled and corrected: "It must be crooked."

"It's hard for a prince to be a man if one side of the water and soil supports one side."

"Who says it's not? Thirty people, I'm afraid I can't fill up all the people in Suzhou."

"Hey, don't talk about that one over there." The butler's eyes lit up, and before the gatekeeper could see clearly with his fingers, he called out: "That, the one in blue clothes, that's right, you... come here and let me see Look, hurry up!"

It looks like a young man who is not as weak as a crown, but he looks handsome when he gets closer, but he is too delicate, with thin eyebrows, narrow eyes, small nose and small lips. Although he can't compare with the young men in the south, this child is tall and straight, and he still looks quite tall The eyes are pleasing to the eye, especially those eyes, unlike other people who are timid and dare not look straight at others.

"Well, not bad." Satisfied, the housekeeper took a step back and looked up and down, "Where are you from? Tell me your surname and place of origin one by one."

The young man nodded slightly, with a humble and unassuming attitude, "I am from Suzhou, my mother is from Han, my father is from Yuezhi, and my parents have passed away long ago."

The butler and the gatekeeper looked at each other. Although the boy's facial features were not outstanding, the color of his eyes was not like the black eyeballs of the Han people. It seemed that he was not lying.

"So your ancestral home is the Yue clan, and the palace doesn't recruit tribesmen, so you can go back." The housekeeper rested his hand on his chin, and gave the gatekeeper a meaningful look.

There was no emotion in the boy's eyes, he bowed slightly, turned around and left.

The boy walked a few feet away, and the gatekeeper called out, "Wait, kid, come here!"

When the boy came back, the gatekeeper asked: "You said your parents died young, do you still have relatives in your family?"

The young man shook his head.

"What's your name?"

"Wu Xi."

The gatekeeper nodded, "I will be called Axi from now on, would you like to sign a five-year long contract?"

The boy glanced at the two of them and nodded.

※※※

Ah Xi and the eight people who were selected into the palace on the same day were the first group of servants, and the rest were all Han Chinese. I heard that he was from the Yue family, so they generally didn't get close to him.

In the eyes of the Han people, the tribal people are all white-eyed wolves, who eat the white rice of the Han people and are greedy for their white money and territory.

In the past, when Emperor Yan had not unified the northern and southern countries, the southern kingdom had raised this group of tribes outside the Great Wall, not to mention the supply of rice grains and medicinal materials every year. Emperor Yan is not as wimpy as the empress of the Southern Kingdom, no, he took the opportunity to set up a feudal clan and sent his brother here to watch over.

Ah Xi is a man of few words. He does his own work every day, sweeping the courtyard, serving flowers and plants, and sometimes he is busy cutting firewood when he is too busy. The firewood is uniform in thickness, and the chef in the kitchen likes to add the firewood he cuts.

Ah Xi has a xun, and she wipes it carefully with a cloth when she is free, but never blows it. Being a servant in the palace is not as free as a goshawk in the desert. Apart from eating, sleeping and going to the toilet, private things are not allowed. of.

The Prince of Xifan is an elegant and gentle person, as can be seen from the music and laughter coming from his courtyard every night.

He seldom punished his servants, and the stewards in the mansion were also very magnanimous. They didn't have the usual power of a big family to crush people to death, so there was no such thing as beating people to death with strong punches.

But there is no good fruit for servants who committed crimes. For example, Xiao Wan, who was assigned to clean the study, couldn't resist the temptation to hide a piece of emerald pen with a brush and was caught. I heard that he was sent to the backyard to feed the dogs. , Instead of being fed to the dog, he became the dog's guardian.

Someone interceded, saying: "That child has never seen the world, so just give him a beating."

The prince said: "It's like this if you haven't seen the world. If you see the world, it's fine. You should be punished!"

"He didn't take the pen holder, so it's not greedy."

"That's because he's stupid, and he should be punished even more!"

"There are not enough servants in the mansion to distribute..."

"Let that one betray Xiao Wan."

"This... this kind of person cannot be placed in the inner courtyard."

"It's okay, I like smart people, ha ha!"

So Ah Xi was sent to the study as an errand, turning a blind eye to the different eyes in the mansion, and he worked hard to do his job well.

Every day when the cock crows, I get up, sweep the yard of the study first, then water the flowers and weeds, then go to the dining room to have breakfast, and then start tidying the study. The prince does not know when he will arrive at the study, so tidying the study needs to be quick and meticulous. Ri Axi found that there was no need to rush so much, the prince was far less interested in the study than in the bed.

Ah Xi's appetite was getting smaller and smaller, not because he couldn't eat, but because the big guy would rather give the food to Xiao Wan to feed the dog than leave it to him.

The stewards don't care about this, although he can be regarded as protecting the lord and making meritorious service, but this kind of thing can't please people, it's too...so intriguing.

It doesn't matter, others look down on him, at least he can be quiet.

Ah Xi doesn't know how to interact with people, and doesn't know how to get along. He only knows how to do what he should do...Leave the palace as soon as possible.

The study was tidy by Ah Xi. The calligraphy and paintings on every wall, every corner of Duobao Pavilion, and even the table legs were spotless.

It's only been working for half a month, and the prince never came to the study room once.

That day, the steward of the servants in the backyard called everyone into the yard. Thirty servants had already been recruited, and Ah Xi was the last one to come out, her footsteps were a little weak and she was hungry.

Just as he was about to enter the line, he bumped into someone with his head buried in his back. The man glared at him fiercely with an ouch, Axi moved to the side, and stopped him with his back again. Sneering.

"Everyone stand up, the lord will come right away!" The steward walked over from the corridor, and the servants immediately stood up with their chests upright. Ah Xi was blocked at the end and stood alone.

Turning into a tall young man from outside the corridor, he was wearing a rosewood-colored silk satin robe, his black hair was loosely tied with a headband, his forehead was smeared with a jewel-encrusted forehead, and he was holding a handful of aloes in cold weather. The wooden folding fan, gently knocked in the palm of the hand.

His attitude is leisurely, his face is handsome, his facial features are not three-dimensional but very vivid, like a bright building washed by rain and mist, clear and fresh, softening all the spring girl dreams of the cardamom building in an instant.

Ah Xi stared at him from the gaps in several heads, the man was smiling, his eyes were rare, the slightly curved pupils were as black as the curtain of the dark night, but with bright light, it reminded people of peach blossoms His eyes are wide, but the ends of his eyes are not raised, but the pupils occupy a too large part of the eyes, which is particularly attractive.

The prince's soft gaze swept through the gap to Ah Xi's eyes focused on him, and Ah Xi did not dodge.

The steward listened to what he said, frowned slightly, and glanced at him again, as if to confirm, and seeing that he had made up his mind not to speak anymore, he stood up straight and said loudly: "My lord lacks a close-fitting person." Boy, this is a good job that can reach the sky in one step."

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this, and they all straightened up to attract attention.

But the steward said again: "The prince has already chosen, the one who stands last, come out."

Without hesitation, Ah Xi walked out from behind with her hands down.

The servants looked at his back, some hated, some disdained, some ridiculed, and many people snorted coldly.

Ah Xi didn't notice it, when she looked up at the prince, she caught his smile as if she was watching a joke.

"Axi, you are a good boy who is dutiful. The most important thing to serve the prince is loyalty." The steward added earnestly: "You have to watch the door for the prince. Every brick and tree in the prince's yard is better than those of those people. What kind of pen hanging is more than ten times more expensive."

Ah Xi nodded calmly, and from the corner of her eye, she saw a few people in the servants' eyes that were even more stinging.

Following the steward, he received new clothes and bedding, and was taken to the prince's main courtyard, Longyuan, and settled in the hut next to the prince's dormitory. Every night, he must sleep in the compartment of the dormitory, serve tea and water and wake up at any time.

On the first night, Ah Xi was dispatched all night.

Even if Ah Xi is an indifferent and calm person, she can't help but think, the prince doesn't have much business to do, can he bear the bed every night?

The chatter and jiao pan outside the cubicle hadn't stopped from the end of dinner to midnight. Ah Xi sat on the bed with her knees hugged and waited for an order. After finally finishing the job, a woman's voice came: "Go fetch the pot." Come drink."

Ah Xi immediately got up to get the wine, thinking why not taking a bath, could there be a second half?

Sure enough, after the charming laugh, there was another sound of venting.

In the middle of the night, Ah Xi hurried in and out to fetch bath water, serve tea, and even fanned herself. She didn't retreat to the small bed until dawn and fell into a deep sleep.