Chapter 64 Plum Blossom Appreciation
Tingzhou is the northwest gate of Dayu and is often invaded by Hu people.
The Xue family army had been stationed there for several generations, keeping the Hu people out of the border and ensuring that Dayu's heartland was safe.
In the first year of Yongjia, after the emperor ascended the throne, the situation in the court was unstable, and the Hu people took the opportunity to send troops.
Although Dayu won, Xue Feng, the commander of the Xue family army, and his brother were killed in the battle.
Xue Feng had two sons, the eldest son Xue Yuzhuo and the second son Xue Yucheng.
The following year, Xue Yuzhuo took Xue Yucheng to the border.
In the fourth year of Yongjia, the Hu people once again launched a large-scale invasion of Tingzhou. This time they came with great force, intending to use 200,000 troops to break through Dayu's northwest defense line.
Xue Yuzhuo asked the court for reinforcements of food and manpower, while leading his soldiers to put up a tenacious resistance.
The Hu people had a large number of troops, and the imperial court did not send any reinforcements, so the Xue family army was once forced into a desperate situation.
In order to save the country, many martial arts masters and righteous people from the public joined the army to fight the enemy together.
But the few are no match for the many.
At the beginning of the fifth year of the Yongjia reign, by the time the imperial court's reinforcements finally arrived in Tingzhou, more than half of Xue's army had been destroyed, and even Xue Yuzhuo had died in battle.
Three years later, the Pei family was accused of colluding with the Hu people and leaking secrets, which led to the Hu people almost entering the heartland of Dayu three years ago.
The Pei family even interfered and prevented the court from reinforcing Tingzhou.
The Pei family was convicted for this.
The wind was howling outside the tent.
Xue Yucheng lowered his voice and said, "It's not the Pei family."
When he was fourteen years old, he witnessed his brother Xue Yuzhuo's death in battle, having been stabbed several times by the Hu people's scimitars.
Although he was sad and angry, he believed that the Pei family would never commit treason, nor would they obstruct reinforcements.
There is something fishy about this matter.
Xue Yucheng secretly never gave up on finding out the truth of what happened that year.
However, the general Wei Fu who led the imperial reinforcements returned to the capital shortly after taking sick leave and then disappeared from Chang'an.
Xue Yucheng sent people to Wei Fu's hometown to look for him, but found that Wei Fu had not returned to his hometown at all.
No one knows its whereabouts.
Xue Yucheng's eyes were dark:
"There must be someone behind Wei Fu. If this person is not eliminated, the Xue family army will be in turmoil."
…
When the border was bitterly cold, the capital was ablaze with lights.
Huge red lanterns were hung in every courtyard of Prince Gong's Mansion.
The lanterns swayed in the wind, and the shadows of the lights in the snow changed rapidly.
In Tinglan Courtyard, Murong Wan was sitting at the desk writing.
There is a charcoal brazier with eight-treasure patterns next to the table, making the room as warm as spring.
There was red paper sprinkled with gold powder on the table, which looked rich and festive.
Murong Wan was writing Spring Festival couplets, and as she wrote, her brows furrowed.
Before he finished writing the line "Red plum blossoms bloom proudly in the snow, the spring scenery is beautiful", he put down his pen in displeasure:
"Chunyue, how did you grind the ink? How can you write with the ink scattered like this?"
Murong Wan looked at the words on the Spring Festival couplets and felt that they were not beautiful enough no matter how she looked at them.
If you don't write well, you will be laughed at if you show it to others.
Chunyue, who was grinding ink, froze for a moment and grasped her sleeve awkwardly.
"Princess, please forgive me. I will grind it again right away."
Chunyue added more water and gently swirled the ink stick on the inkstone.
Murong Wan tried the ground ink and found it was still not good enough.
Murong Wan pursed her lips:
"You can't even take care of such a small matter."
Chunyue pulled at her clothes and could only bow her head and admit her mistake, not knowing what to do.
He Yan, wearing a gold-woven brocade jacket, entered the house and took off the peacock-patterned cloak that covered her.
"Wan'er, what's wrong?"
Murong Wan turned around and walked to her mother and told her what had just happened.
He Yan lifted her daughter's hair:
"The ink sticks we bought earlier are almost used up. Right now, the good inks are being used by the palace first. The new inks bought on the market are not as good. Mother still has two good ones. I'll bring them back for you later."
Murong Wan finally relaxed her brows and leaned into He Yan's arms with a smile:
"Mother is still the best. Wan'er needs good ink to write well."
He Yan straightened her daughter up and said, "Okay, it's time to change your clothes. Mother told you that you would go to the palace to see the Queen today."
"Wan'er remembered it and has chosen the pearl flowers to wear." Murong Wan and several maids went to the inner room to change clothes.
When He Yan took Murong Wan out of the palace, snowflakes began to fall from the sky again.
It has been snowing in Chang'an these days and the weather is very cold.
Except for the charcoal seller who goes from street to street, most people would rather stay in their houses than go out and suffer from the cold.
It is precious that people do not have to suffer from the cold and do not have to endure the hardship.
When I have nothing to do, I like to hold some parties where we can enjoy the scenery and make tea.
The Empress Dowager is holding a plum blossom viewing party in the palace's plum garden today, and has summoned the ladies of the nobility to the palace to enjoy the snow and brew tea together.
Murong Wan followed her mother into the palace and saw plum blossoms in full bloom in the garden.
The petals of cinnabar plum fall on your shoulders, and with a gentle sniff, you can smell the cool fragrance of plum blossoms.
After Murong Wan followed her mother to pay her respects to the Queen and Concubine Shu, He Yan sat down with the other women to exchange greetings.
Murong Wanze, Princess Ning'an and several children of the same age from noble families gathered together.
Ning An was wearing a moon-white plum blossom jacket, a brocade cloak, and a circle of white mink fur around her neck. She looked icy and cute.
Zhao Mo, the great-granddaughter of Duke Ming, said, "The princess's dress is beautiful, it looks like plum blossoms are blooming on her."
Ning An's eyes reflected the blazing plum blossoms, but when he opened his mouth he spoke about the soft fur collar on his neck:
"This white sable was caught by my father during his hunting this autumn. He loves me and gave it to me as a reward to make clothes."
Gorgeous clothes are certainly lovely, but Ning An is always most confident when talking about the rewards given by his father.
It seemed that just by saying this, her father's love for her would increase even more.
Murong Wan didn't think the fur collar was pretty; it wasn't even as pretty as the plum blossom.
She looked at a branch of plum blossoms at the corner of the plum garden. It was particularly bright red, like rouge on a woman's lips.
A woman's shadow suddenly flashed out from behind the plum blossom. Her hair was disheveled and her face was grim as she shouted:
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
"I know I was wrong..."
“Your Majesty… Your Majesty…”
The woman moved back and forth among the plum trees with an anxious look on her face.
It was freezing cold, but she was only wearing a plain nightgown and one embroidered shoe, with the other foot bare in the snow.
Her lips turned purple from the cold and she was calling out to the emperor like a madman.
Murong Wan and others were frightened by the crazy woman who suddenly appeared.
"Princess, who is she?" Murong Wan looked at Ning An.
"It's Qi Cairen."
Ning An's eyes were complicated, and it was hard to tell whether it was fear or pity.
A few months ago, she was still unhappy because her father doted on Qi Cairen too much, but she didn't expect that Qi Cairen would end up in this situation in just half a year.
Not long after Qi Cairen was conferred the title of Shu Meiren, she developed a rash on her body, which took two months to heal.
But even after she recovered, the emperor no longer summoned the beautiful lady.
After waiting day after day in vain, Lady Shu went to the imperial study to bring nourishing soup to the emperor, but the eunuch would not even let her in.
After much thought, Lady Shu resorted to the same old trick again and hid under the locust tree outside Ganyang Palace, pretending to meet the emperor by chance.
But this time, the emperor's attitude was completely different from last time.
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