Don't steal a man from me

In the early morning of the next day, swan snow fell all over the sky, and the whole Yancheng was plunged into a vast snow and mist. A heavily covered black canopy bronze trolley stopped at the gate of Xiangguo Mansion.

Chu Yunqi held Su Jue's hand tightly, and said softly: "Xi is cold, Xiangguo remembers to add clothes, so don't freeze."

After he finished speaking, he turned his head and said coldly to Yao'er: "Xiangguo, you have been well protected. If you lose a hair, I will ask you when I come back!"

Yao'er gave him a blank look, and said weakly: "I know, I know. Xiangguo is not going to be a hostage, is it worth it?"

Just as Chu Yunqi was about to have a fit, Su Jue smiled slightly and said, "It's getting late, your majesty doesn't have to send him off far away. I'll wait for my ministers to return after obtaining the credentials of the Xi-Chu Alliance." After finishing speaking, he got on the carriage and said in a low voice, " It's all right," the driver said, and the cart rumbled to the east.

When the snow fell on his shoulders and the guards and the carriage could not be seen, Chu Yunqi boarded the carriage and headed towards Chu Palace.

The car ruddered for a while, and Chu Yunqi sat on the car with his eyes closed and meditated. He buckled the wall of the car and said in a low voice, "Go to the side hall."

"No." The driver replied.

About half an hour later, the car stopped at the side hall. After Chu Yunqi got out of the car, he raised his feet and entered the side hall. While untiing the Xuanfeng fur, he said, "General Wei Ran is coming to the side hall."

"No." He gave a salute to the matter and withdrew.Chu Yunqi sat down in front of the Heiyu case, flipping through the letters casually.

Then, Wei Ran, who was wearing a black and white robe with tiger pattern, walked in hurriedly, clasped his fists as a salute, and said "My King Wannian" in a spirited voice.

Chu Yunqi smiled and stood up, came to Wei Ran's side to help him up, and said with a smile, "You don't have to be polite, General."

Wei Ran stood on the side with a sullen face and said nothing, Chu Yunqi glanced at him, and said with a smile: "The general is resentful that the widow agreed to Xiangguo's request?"

Wei Ran grimaced, snorted coldly, and said: "Xiangguo is resourceful and resourceful, Wei Ran is a rough man, how dare he hate the king."

Chu Yun Qilang smiled and sat down in front of the black jade case. Wei Ran was wondering why he was laughing, when he said with high spirits: "Jiaocheng, Shangcheng, and Quwo are in the east of my Chu, and between the hinterland of my Chu lies Yuquan Mountain. , is too far away from Yancheng, what is the difference between it and an enclave? King Xi is more than brave, but not resourceful. The reform is progressing smoothly. In a world of great controversy, national power speaks for itself. When I, Chu, become the most powerful country in the Central Plains, three cities are nothing. At that time, I, Chu, will be the Daozu, and the nations will be fish and meat. Which one do you think is better? Guarding the three-acre land of the Chu State, people are still red-eyed, the general said, isn't it too stingy?"

To Wei Ran, these words woke him up like a blow to the head, and he blushed and was about to speak.

Seeing that Chu Yunqi put away his smiling face, he continued with a cold face: "The general doesn't ask why he treats Xiangguo, and even the widow speaks disrespectfully. Is this a sign of loyalty? It's just a short-sighted rant. Xiangguo is magnanimous and doesn't care about the general. General On the other hand, what is the crime of insulting the Prime Minister?"

Wei Ran's face turned pale with fright, he was drenched in cold sweat, his legs softened, he knelt down with a "plop", and said anxiously: "Wei Ran is a villager in the mountains, and when the Prime Minister returns, I will punish Jing and plead guilty!"

Chu Yunqi hurriedly got up to help Wei Ran, held his hand tightly and sighed: "You are my uncle, in the future I have to take care of what I can't do, and I also know that uncle wants to do everything for you. I am so good, so why am I not like this?"

After being told by Chu Yunqi, Wei Ran already fell in admiration for him and Su Jue. He clasped his fists and bowed to Chu Yunqi, "Wei Ran is loyal to my king, and he will never hesitate to die!"

Chu Yunqi smiled, helped the man up and said with a pleasant face: "The queen mother's meal is here, why don't you stay and have a meal together. It's been a long time since my nephew and uncle drank heavily and ate meat."

"Okay!" Wei Ran nodded and followed Chu Yunqi away.

Let's say that Su Jue drove to the outside of Yancheng in a carriage.

Yancheng is near the water and near the river, and most of the small rivers extending from Xiangtingze are in the east. The east gate has built a water gate leading directly to the outer water, and there are boats moored underwater for travelers to leave the city by water.

On normal days, the boatmen would warmly call the guest officers to board the boat from the bows of their respective boats. After the guest officers boarded the boat, all the boatmen would wave their hands from a distance and shout: "Guests, please enjoy the wind—"

But now the sky is full of wind and snow, after crossing the stone bridge, the water gate is completely empty, not even a small boat.

The coachman breathed a sigh of relief at the somewhat stiff hands, rubbed his hands, turned and said to the inside of the car: "Xiangguo, there are no boats leaving Xiangtingze."

After hearing this, Su Jue got down from the car, looked at the vast river, and shouted: "Is there a boat--" Su Jue frowned when no one answered after shouting three times.

"Xiangguo, why don't we go back to the city first, and wait for the snow to stop before leaving," the coachman said.

Su Jue shook his head. It's not too late for him to go to Xiguo as an envoy. If it is delayed for a day, the reform will have to be postponed for a day. So he sighed slightly, and called again loudly: "Can there be a boatman—"

"Guest officer, are you in a hurry?" An old voice came from the cabin behind him.

Su Jue turned around and saw a white-haired, thin old man standing in front of the hut door. He was wearing a coarse cloth, with his hands folded in his sleeves, and he was looking Su Jue up and down.

Su Jue was courteous, saluted the old man and said, "Old man, Xiaosheng is busy going out of the city, where can I get a boat?"

"That's it, why don't I send the guest officer out of the city."

"This is the old man's work." Su Jue bowed his hands.

After a while, the old man pulled the snow-covered boat over, cleared off the snow, and a small black boat floated under the pier.

Su Jue turned back and said, "Yao'er and I will go, and the rest of us can go back to the city." After speaking, he boarded the boat.

The driver saw that the boat could not carry too many people, so he responded and led the car back, and the guards who were following also left with the car.

Half an hour after leaving the water gate, the boat floated into Xiangting Lake.

Su Jue stepped out of the cabin and looked into the distance. The sky was gray, but the water was a clear blue. The snowflakes fluttered like butterfly wings, flying into the steamy river. territory.

A gust of wind and snow blew up the old man's thin clothes. Su Jue quickly took off the fox fur coat that Chu Yunqi put on her, and stepped forward to put it on the old man.

"Guest officer, you can't do this, my boatman doesn't take money from outsiders." The old man waved his hand.

"I put on clothes for the old man. When the old man is warm, the boat will sail faster." Seeing that the old man would not accept him, Su Jue smiled and said in a different way.

After hearing this, the old man laughed loudly and said: "The guest officer is really real, unlike those princes who are trying to catch fame."

Su Jue smiled and didn't answer.

The old man shook the oar and sang leisurely: "What night is this evening, and the boat is in the middle of the boat. What day is it today, and I have to meet the son in the same boat. The heart is so stubborn, and I know the gentleman. There are trees in the mountains, and the trees have branches, and the heart is pleasing to the king. You don't know."

Hearing the old man sing this song, Su Jue was taken aback for a moment, remembering what Master Xiaoyaozi said to him before he died.

Xiaoyaozi told Su Jue a story about him and King Chu Cheng.

Xiaoyaozi's name is Mu Qing. When he was young, he was just a poor student who had read a lot of books. His father was a ferryman in Xiangtingze. Mu Qing didn't have the trouble of traveling around the world. Reading while ferrying on Xiangting Lake.

There are all kinds of people coming and going on Xiangting Lake, including envoys from six countries, great merchants, princes and nobles, and scholars who lobby other countries. Mu Qing gradually understood the situation of the world by sending guests off to Xiangting Lake. Also learned about various schools of thought.

That day, a nobleman with golden branches and jade leaves asked him to ferry him out of Xiangting Lake.Mu Qing fell in love with him at first sight, and he was used to wandering in the Xiangting Lake. Mu Qing's nature is bold, and he did not hide his joy for this nobleman at all, but the nobleman ignored him.

Mu Qing was unhappy, and made a song for the nobleman to listen to.

When the nobleman heard the words "the mountains have trees, the trees have branches, and the heart is pleasing to the king, the king doesn't know it", he clapped his hands and called Mu Qing to his front, asked him his name, and asked him if he would follow him.

It was only then that Mu Qing learned that the noble man in front of him was the new king of Chu——Chu Zhaonan.

The song he sang for the king of Chu spread across the Xiangting Lake.

Su Jue was filled with emotions when he heard the old man sing this song.

Thinking about it, the two of them, the master and the apprentice, are really similar, they both fell in love with someone they shouldn't love, but the master waited for that person's response, and he...

He was gambling, and that day he said: "Master, I will go through this muddy water alone for him. No matter what the outcome is, I will not regret it."

So he would promise Chu Yunqi to be the prime minister of Chu, he would seek the world for him, he would bet his whole life, I don't know how it will end?

The old man turned his head to look at Su Jue and said with a smile: "Everyone in the world yearns for a beautiful woman. The young master is as gentle as jade, and gentle as jade. Why? Can't a bad old man miss a beautiful woman?"

Hearing what the old man said, Su Jue lowered her eyes and said softly: "Dare to ask the old man, is this word of love not harmful?"

The old man said with a smile: "You meet a person, and your heart is not there. It is as calm as still water. You want to get rid of it, but you find that the more you struggle, the bond between you is getting deeper and deeper. In the end, your heart will be overwhelmed, and you will be desperate for one person."

The old man's voice echoed on the snowy Dongting Lake with a vicissitudes of life. Su Jue stared at the lake in a daze, wondering if he heard it. He smiled and shook his head and continued to row.

After a while, Su Jue asked: "Are the sons and daughters of the old man's family also boat owners?"

"Only one son, joined the army and died, leaving me as a bad old man, buried in the loess to the chest, and I don't have many days to live." The old man turned his head and smiled faintly at Su Jue.

Su Jue's water-colored eyes flickered. In the world of great strife, countries are fighting each other frequently. There are too many people like the old man in the world. Su Jue sighed slightly and stopped talking.

The old man suddenly said loudly: "Young master, a blizzard is coming, hurry back to the cabin!"

Su Jue looked up, only to see a white mist of snow coming towards him, like a thousand troops.The old man yelled: "Master, hurry back to the cabin!"

Fan Yao came out of the cabin, dragged Su Jue and shouted: "My lord, come into the cabin!"

Su Jue shook off Fan Yao and ran towards the old man.

"If you made any mistake, Chu Yunqi would have to skin me alive!" Fan Yao roared, stepped forward and dragged the man back unconscious, pushed him into the cabin, then turned around and ran towards the old man at the bow.

The old man yelled at him: "Guest officer, get down! Don't worry about me, hurry up!"

Knowing that the situation was urgent, Fan Yao listened to what the old man said, and quickly lay down on the ground, holding on to the side of the boat, only to feel the sharp whistling sound passing by, and the blizzard wrapped in ice cones blowing on her face, the severe pain was unbearable, and Fan Yao immediately passed out.

When Su Jue woke up, Fan Yao was sitting next to him, her face was covered with thin blood. Su Huifang sat up and asked, "Where is the old man?"

"Dead." Fan Yaoyun said calmly.

Su Jue saw the tears in his eyes when he turned his head away. The young man wanted to pretend that he didn't care, but the tears in his eyes betrayed him. Su Jue smiled, patted him on the shoulder and walked out of the cabin.

After the wind and snow, the sun rests on the line of the water and the sky, and sprinkles the red light all over the river. The clear water and the sky are like a fairyland on earth.

The old man at the bow was lying on the deck in a stiff state. The fur coat he had draped over him had already been blown away by the wind.

Su Jue knelt beside the old man, lowered his head and lowered his eyes, feeling guilt spread in his chest. If he didn't go out of the city when the sky was full of snow, the old man should be warming up by the fire in the hut by the pier right now.

The world is unpredictable, no wonder the master often said, dare not count the hexagrams, for fear of the impermanence of heaven.

Su Jue just knelt there quietly, sneering.

Chu Yunqi said that he was used to the separation and reunion in the world, and still loved the world after birth, old age, sickness and death, so he could be as gentle as jade and calm in dealing with things.

The reason why you can be calm is that there is no one you care about in this world. Once you put someone in your heart, you will be affected by him all the time, and all your emotions will be caused by that person. It also became worrying.

The old man has no one to care about, so he can send him out of the city on a snowy day, so he can stay out of the matter and explain love to him.

Su Jue kept kneeling with his back to the cabin. Fan Yao came out of the cabin. He couldn't see his expression, and ignored him. He went to the bow of the boat, picked up the paddle, and slowly sailed the boat to the east of Chu State. The small town of Chongyang.

The boat docked at the pier of Chongyang City, Su Jue buried the old man on a hill facing Xiangtingze, and took a rest in Chongyang City with Fan Yao, then continued eastward in a cart.

It took more than ten days to arrive at Linyi, the capital of Xiguo.

Xiguo was close to the sea, and there were very few countries producing salt at that time. Under such circumstances, the sea salt of Xiguo accounted for almost [-]-[-]% of the world's salt production. .

During the entire process when Su Jue entered the city and rested in the posthouse of the envoys stationed in Xi, King Xi did not send an envoy to greet him.

Su Jue felt bad, so he had to send envoys to King Xi's Palace to inform King Xi.

After about a meal, the envoy came back and told Su Jue, "Prince Xi is meeting Qingguo Shangqing Fengqing."

After Su Jue heard this, his heart tightened. He frowned, sighed, got up and bowed to the envoy, "Thank you, my lord."

After the envoy bowed his hand and returned the salute, he said "Xiangguo rest at ease" and retreated.Su Jue lowered her eyes and sat quietly on the wooden chair without saying a word.

Inside Xiguo Palace.

King Xi, who was in his early forties, wore a crown on his head and sat on the throne in a royal uniform with tiger patterns. The people of Xi regarded tigers as brave and good at fighting and respected them, so princes and ministers liked the tiger pattern Clothes.

King Xi said slowly: "Qingguo Shangqing traveled thousands of miles to our country, why is it?"

"Your Majesty Xi, I'm listening to my foreign officials." Feng Qingzhen in red clasped his sleeves and said, "I heard such a story in Qingguo: In the ice and snow, a farmer Yu Qianmo picked up a frozen The farmer took pity on the snake, so he held the snake in his arms and warmed it with his body. Soon the snake woke up slowly, opened its fangs and bit the farmer to death. The foreign minister told the story to the king to let the king understand that Xi Guo It is the farmer, and Chu is the poisonous snake."

"Now the countries of the Central Plains are united to attack Chu. Chu is afraid and shows weakness to Xi in order to form an alliance to resolve the crisis. After the crisis is over, the foreign ministers are afraid that Chu will bite back on their benefactor, so they come here to advise King Xi not to pity Chu. "

Hearing this, King Xi was shocked into a cold sweat, and when the guards reported that Prime Minister Chu had entered Linyi, and wanted to see King Xi, he waved his sleeves angrily and said, "No see!"

"Before the foreign ministers left, my king repeatedly told my ministers about the king. My king said that the king is the god of the East Sea. He is brave and decisive. He has long wanted to become friends with Xi. Now I will give you a thousand yi of gold and a hundred taels of chariots. , a hundred pairs of white jade, let's talk about sincerity." Feng Qing said with a bow.

"Okay, okay." King Xi smiled happily at Feng Qing's words, applauded repeatedly, and happily stamped the alliance letter, saying: "Thank you for your advice, I will prepare a banquet for Qingqing. Qingqing will come with the widow." As he spoke, he stood up and left his seat.

It was night in the post house of the envoy of Chu State in Linyi. After taking a bath, Su Jue changed into a light white shirt. While the envoy of Chu State was cleaning himself up, he learned about the situation in Linyi——

Today, the most famous person in Linyi City of Xi State is Mei Hao, the son of Mei Changqu, Shangqing of Xi State. In a world where rites and music have collapsed, Mei Hao still abides by the complicated set of etiquette of King Shang, which shows that this person has a firm heart and is a rare sober person.

The words of this person's article are not as sharp as his teacher's, but after reading the whole article, it can make people enlightened. The elegant words reveal unique insights on current affairs, and King Xi named him "Han Zhangjun".

As long as he sees King Xi, Su Jue is sure to persuade him to form an alliance with Chu. Since Lord Hanzhang is so valued by King Xi, he might as well persuade this man to speak a few words in front of King Xi. In this way, the matter will be half successful.

"Your Majesty, I will prepare a generous gift for Xiangguo to give to Mr. Hanzhang." Chu Envoy said.

"No, Mr. Hanzhang is not an official, so preparing the ceremony is self-defeating. My lord helped me to write the greeting card. I will go to visit him tomorrow." Su Jue shook his head and denied.

The envoy Chu nodded, answered "No" and left.

In the embassy of Qingguo in Xi'an, Feng Qing, dressed in vermilion phoenix fur, was sitting beside the wooden table with a hand stove in his arms, flipping through the letters, and the light of candles reflected in his long and narrow phoenix eyes, shining like stars. The pupils are well formed, the tails of the eyes are slightly raised, the eyeliner is deep and long, and the pupils are black and bright.

Zhuang Gui couldn't help but stare at his eyes. There are many phoenix eyes in the world, and there are also many good-looking eyes. However, Zhuang Gui felt that these eyes grew on Feng Qing's body, as if they had spirituality. .

"You said Prime Minister Chu has arrived in Linyi?" Feng Qing looked up at Zhuang Gui who was standing there.

Zhuang Gui came back to his senses, blushed, quickly lowered his head and coughed as if to cover up: "Chu Xiang has already stayed in the embassy, ​​King Xi didn't send an envoy to greet him."

"It's Lan'er..." Feng Qing murmured as if she didn't hear what he said, her thin lips moved.