Before leaving, she took a detour to Yanfu Street, on the one hand to "unload" the things given by Du Juan at Wangchen Building, and on the other hand to take a look at Yao Yi and Wu Xiaoliu.
This was a habit she had developed over the years: before going on an expedition or a long journey, she would visit a few good friends, chat with them whether there was anything to talk about or not, and finally have a solemn drink to say goodbye, so as to prevent herself from never returning and leaving no regrets.
At first, everyone was genuinely emotional, often weeping and snotting as if it were truly a farewell. As time went on, the process became sluggish, and everyone became very perfunctory about it.
It happened to be the end of March, the height of spring, when people were in high spirits. The business of Wangchen Tower was also in full swing. Yao Yi was buried in the abacus and account books, and didn't want to pay any attention to Xiao Nanhui. He just called Wu Xiaoliu to respond to him for a few words, and before that he sent someone to bring her a small burlap bag stuffed full of things.
Xiao Nanhui took the bag hanging on the side of the saddle with a smile, and Jixiang snorted happily as he headed towards the Ding Gate in the east of the city. He recognized the small sack, which was filled with dried mushrooms produced in Beizhi.
The horses were fed well, but it was little more than dried wheat straw, far less than the "food" they had received at the Xiao residence. Although Xiao Nanhui no longer held the title of Right General on this trip, he didn't feel wronged by it.
The emperor hadn't revoked her Black Feather Camp badge, and had also, without any clear reason, assigned her the position of Charioteer-Right. As the name suggests, Charioteer-Right was a warrior who guarded the right side of the emperor's chariot, as opposed to the Charioteer-Left. According to the rule that the left was the most respected, her current position was limited to Charioteer-Right.
It is true that no matter how you go around, you cannot escape the word "right".
After pondering it for a while, Xiao Nanhui decided that this wasn't such a bad thing. After all, traveling with the emperor would mean much better food and drink, and being close to the emperor's carriage, she would be able to see him often.
I wonder if this is also his intention in making such arrangements.
Perhaps because the events that day at Prince Xuanyuan's mansion were too complex, she had been having chaotic dreams for two days straight. In her dreams, she was sometimes in gorgeous attire, seated high and ablaze with golden light, and sometimes in arduous, dreary scenes, with clouds of sorrow and worry. The one constant was that man's face was always intertwined in them: sometimes he smiled softly, holding a flower, with the head of a monk and the face of a Buddha, and sometimes his eyebrows and eyes were frosty, and he walked the path of a demon or a ghost.
She fell under his spell and even in her dreams she was weaving stories about being with him.
And through the crowds of people, he walked towards her in reality.
When the emperor traveled, unless on military campaigns, he would pass through the Ding Gate in the east of the city. The corridor to Ding Gate was wide and straight, allowing common people to observe from outside the street, while civil and military officials were required to line up at the gate to respectfully see off the emperor.
When the time comes, the emperor will step out of the sedan chair with a canopy covering the roof and fans as screens, and after stepping over a long brocade carpet ten feet away, he will enter the royal carriage.
The distance from the sedan chair to the carriage was only ten steps, and as a passenger, she happened to be the closest to him.
When she knew he was Zhongli Jing, she had no intention of looking at his appearance carefully; after knowing he was the emperor, she no longer dared to stare at his face so presumptuously.
This time, amidst countless admiring gazes, she was finally able to take a good look at that face with justification.
As usual, he wore a crown with twelve tassels made of five-colored jade pendants, which hid the face of its owner behind them, but revealed his true appearance for a moment when it was shaken and struck.
It was a face with a smooth and soft outline like the Buddha statues enshrined in the temple. There was no trace of tightness or redundancy on the jade-like face. The eyebrows were dark and elegant, with a slightly intriguing curve. The lip color was always very light, but it always gave people an inexplicable feeling of restrained brilliance.
The most wonderful thing is the pair of narrow eyes, which are half-closed most of the time, as if with a bit of laziness and drunkenness. When they open their eyes and look at you at a certain moment, you can see the abyss silently opening in the dark pupils.
In the light of this moment, the situation of this moment, and the breathing of this moment, his aura, like the distant scenery of mountains and the mirror-like cold pond, was infinitely magnified, making people dare not look at it, but also yearning for it.
He is so handsome.
Xiao Nanhui thought blankly, and recalled the first time he met him.
On a stormy night in Yueyuan Town, near Dafeng Ferry, he followed Ding Weixiang into the dilapidated inn. The wind brought a drizzle of rain that fell behind him, soaking half his smoky-colored gown. At that moment, she felt that he looked so different from the men she knew, and even felt a little disgusted by his skin, which was even lighter than that of an average woman.
Now that she thought about it, perhaps she had been prejudiced against him from the beginning and had never really looked at that face.
Most of the memories in life will eventually become blurred, and only a few moments can be remembered for a lifetime.
Just like this moment, although it was just a brief glance, she has already engraved it in her heart and will not forget it for many, many years.
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