Xiao Jiu

78.

In the early morning of this day, there was a burst of gongs and drums outside the palace, and Qiaoqiao came in and said that it seemed that someone from the capital had come.

The little prince felt a "thump" in his heart, and ran outside with his bare feet, but was grabbed by Master Yan and brought him back.

"No bare feet!" Lord Yan took his cotton boots and put them on with a cold face.

The little prince went out to greet him with Lord Yan, and the people who came were indeed people from the palace, followed by a caravan of wedding gifts bestowed by the emperor. The scene was very spectacular.

Among the cartloads of congratulatory gifts were fox fur cloaks that were extremely warm against the cold, calligraphy and painting books that the little prince loved, and special pastries of the capital.

The little prince thanked him calmly, and after the crowd dispersed, he called the people in the palace and said, "Distribute all these and donate them to poor families."

Lord Yan saw it, and didn't say a word. The little prince asked uncertainly, "Am I being too unkind?"

Master Yan said: "No, Xiaojiu did a good job. I was just thinking that there are osmanthus crisps unique to the capital in those pastries, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to buy them here in the future."

The little prince was taken aback, and hurriedly chased after him to grab the sweet-scented osmanthus crisps.

79.

It was a rare sunny day without snow, the little prince was sitting on Lord Yan basking in the sun while eating the osmanthus crisps he had snatched back.

The little prince took a bite and found it very tasty, so he quickly handed it to Master Yan to taste, and the two of them ate a small plate of pastries for half an hour.

Lord Yan wiped the crumbs from the little prince's mouth, and asked, "Will Xiao Jiu miss the capital?"

The little prince nodded and said: "I think, I will miss my father, the teacher, and the little tabby cat in the palace who gave birth to six cubs."

Lord Yan asked again: "Will you miss the emperor?"

The little prince shook his head.

After a while, he raised his head and asked Lord Yan: "Brother Yan, do you know why the emperor let me go?"

Lord Yan really doesn't know.

"He said you would work hard for me, he didn't want you to get hurt because of me." The little prince was very unhappy, "He said it as if I was hurting you, although now I know that I really hurt you..."

Master Yan held the little prince's hand tightly: "There is no trouble, Xiao Jiu always buries things in his heart and carries them silently. Brother Yan hopes that he can speak out about things in the future, because he is no longer alone. .”

80.

The little prince put his pursed lips down, and rubbed his head into Lord Yan's arms like a baby, and said to Lord Yan: "Then tell me what happened in the harem after I left."

Master Yan only entered the palace once after the little prince left the capital, and he didn't see or hear much more than the little prince came here, so he picked some innocuous words, such as: "Pearl entered the palace and became the emperor's maid. "

The moment the little prince heard it, there was a flash of astonishment in his eyes, and it took him a long time to recover, and he whispered: "I knew this girl had no good intentions, she must be complaining that I always talk about her."

Master Yan said: "No, when she first entered the palace, she was a maidservant of the Eastern Palace, and you were just ten years old at that time."

The little prince remained silent again, and carefully stroked Lord Yan's rough palm.

"I'm sorry." The little prince said in a low voice.

Lord Yan didn't understand, so he said, "I'm sorry for what?"

"At that time... I always thought it was you."

81.

Lord Yan was stunned, but soon relieved, he put his arms around the young prince and asked: "It turns out that I have been wronged for so long for no reason, should the prince make good compensation for me?"

Upon hearing this, the little prince immediately hooked Lord Yan's neck and offered his lips.

A kiss that should have been tasted lightly, but because of Mr. Yan's gradual deepening, it became out of control.

The little prince blushed and pushed him: "Brother Yan, it's daytime now."

"What happened during the day?"

"People will see it." The little prince whispered.

"No, I've made them all back down." Lord Yan finished speaking without changing his expression, then pressed the back of the young prince's head and kissed him.Lips and teeth were inseparable, and the big hand quietly poked into the little prince's robe.

"Hmm..." The little prince called out like a kitten, his face was flushed, and he squinted his eyes impatiently and said, "Brother Yan, I want to..."

The corner of Lord Yan's mouth curled into a malicious smile: "Didn't you say it was daytime?"

The little prince puffed up his mouth angrily.

Master Yan kissed him on the lips, stood up and carried him into the house.

25 end

82.

The winter in the north is extremely long. In previous years, the cotton-padded clothes had been taken off in the capital, but it was still snowing here.

The little prince has been afraid of the cold since he was a child, but fortunately now he has a pedestrian heater, he carries it with him wherever he goes, and he doesn't find it difficult, at most, his butt hurts a bit.

One day after the beginning of spring, Lord Yan came back from outside the palace, carrying a big basket in his hand.

The little prince looked up curiously, and met two pairs of big eyes that were also poking around.

"Wow!" The little prince exclaimed, "Where did the little cat come from?"

"The tailor's house along the street, his mother cat gave birth to six cats at once and was too late to feed them, so I took two."

The little prince was overjoyed, picked one of them up and put it in his arms, and told Lord Yan: "I used to take care of all the kittens in the palace."

Lord Yan picked up the other one too, and said, "I know."

The little prince only thought that he said that he didn't think much about it before, but he didn't know that after he left the capital, Mr. Yan had brought back the few little cats in the palace to the Yan Mansion, and now they are still being looked after by the old housekeeper.

The little prince looked at the kitten, then at Lord Yan, stood on tiptoe happily, and kissed Lord Yan sweetly in front of two kittens who had never seen the world.

83.

In summer, the little prince finally realized that the north is good. In the past, it was the time to eat ice in the capital to enjoy the cool air, but here it was still breezy, the temperature was pleasant, and there were even fewer mosquitoes. Little red envelopes.

Of course there are others who think so.

One day in midsummer, the young prince was teaching Lord Yan how to practice calligraphy in his study. Seeing that Lord Yan was about to poke his hand irregularly in some places, the servants of the mansion came to inform that there was a distinguished guest.

The little prince fastened his belt with a blushing face, and then went out to greet him.

The distinguished guest who came to the door was the fourth prince. The fiefdom where the fourth prince is located is in the southeast, and June is like a furnace, so he and the five wives came to King Rui's site to escape the summer heat.

The little prince hadn't seen Brother Four for a long time, and he was very excited. He not only arranged the best courtyard, but also hosted banquets every day.

The fourth prince also didn't treat himself as an outsider, he lived here for a month, having fun and drinking all day long.

The little prince had no idea at first, but after having outsiders, some of his private activities were restricted, which annoyed him a lot.

One night, the fourth prince drank too much wine, and said to the young prince earnestly with alcohol, "Xiao Jiu, don't blame brother for talking too much, you are already an adult, you have to marry more wives as soon as you are young to carry on the family line."

After speaking, he smiled and said to Mr. Yan: "There is also Mr. Yan, who is so talented and beautiful, both civil and military, why doesn't he understand the affairs of Fengyue, and he hasn't married yet. Could it be that there is something wrong with him? Ha ha……"

The little prince and Master Yan both kept a straight face and said nothing, the fourth prince, just to make fun of himself, took the jug and went back to his own courtyard.

That night, ambiguous and high-pitched shouts came from the courtyard of the little prince.

Early the next morning, the fourth prince got up to say goodbye and returned to his fief.

84.

Master Yan usually has the habit of waking up in the morning to practice swordsmanship. Even now that he no longer has to go to the battlefield or lead thousands of troops, this habit is still maintained.

Holding a cup of barley tea, the little prince was sitting leisurely in the porch, watching Lord Yan wielding a sword in the courtyard, trimming the branches of fallen leaves neatly, he was quite proud in his heart.

Others' princesses can embroider, but my "princess" can garden. The little prince is very satisfied.

The little prince's appetite has increased a lot recently, Lord Yan also noticed this, he rubbed the little prince's swollen belly to tease him: "Is our Xiaojiu pregnant with a little Xiaojiu?"

The little prince was ticklish, so he patted Master Yan's hand away with a smile and said, "It's because the rice in the north is so delicious."

He had heard about this when he was in the capital, and now that it was the autumn harvest season and he had eaten authentic northern rice, he realized that the reputation was indeed well-deserved.

After a few days, the housekeeper of the palace asked for leave, saying that the family's farmland harvest was too busy and he had to go back to help.

After the little prince heard this, he immediately discussed with Mr. Yan, and Mr. Yan went to the countryside with the steward the next day.

The busy villagers on Tian'an saw this strange man dressed luxuriously and had an extraordinary appearance, and they thought that they couldn't be of much help.

Unexpectedly, the man went down to the ground, pulled out the saber behind him, and went straight to the rice field. His movements were so fast that people couldn't see his movements clearly, and he harvested half an acre of field cleanly in two or three strokes.

The rice that was originally harvested in three days was now completed in half a day. The villagers were very grateful, and before leaving, they gave Mr. Yan five stones of rice to express their gratitude.

In the evening, the young prince ate the fruits of Lord Yan's labor and added another bowl of rice.

85.

It had only just entered October, and the sky began to snow again. The little prince wrapped himself in a newly made padded jacket, and rushed into the snow regardless of his own safety.

Lord Yan followed behind him with a cloak on his shoulders, and said, "After a year here, I still think you are tired of seeing Xue."

"How could it be? There are four seasons in a year, and each season has its own unique scenery. Watching snow is just one of them. And with brother Yan accompanying me, I don't feel tired of watching anything."

The little prince turned his head and smiled at him with crooked eyebrows, just like that night of the winter solstice back then, but there was more calmness and determination in his words now: "Brother Yan will always be with me."

Lord Yan smiled, embraced the young prince from behind, and whispered in his ear:

"I will."

I will accompany you through spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Then accompany you through one season after another.

(Finish)

The author says:

It feels like I wrote the ending out of the episode