Emperor Zhaoming Liu Ju looked at the prosperity and bustle of the city, a smile appeared on his pale face, and he waved to Princess Roujia.
"Jiao'er, look, isn't this year's Lantern Festival more prosperous than last year?"
Princess Roujia, wearing a light blue dress, stood beside Emperor Zhaoming. She smiled and said, "Father, you have worked hard to govern the country, and Dingjing is naturally more prosperous than before. Over the years, I have been walking among the people, and I often hear the people praise your benevolent rule. After pacifying Beiliang, opening up trade, and reducing taxes, the people's lives have become more prosperous."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Zhaoming was very pleased and laughed out loud. If others said these words, he would only think they were nine points of flattery, but Roujia had been walking among the people and knew the people's sufferings best, so her words were the most credible.
Princess Roujia said in a gentle voice, "Father, the imperial physician said that the best medicine for your illness is laughter. If you are happy, your illness will naturally heal without medicine. You take care of your health, which is what the people of the world hope for most."
"I know. You are just as nagging as them." Emperor Zhaoming smiled and patted Princess Roujia's shoulder. "Jiao'er, don't leave now that you are back. You said you would stay faithful to Xue Xiaotang, and I agreed. But the three-year period is almost up. You should stay in Dingjing and let me choose a good husband for you. I will be in a good mood if you can find a good match."
Princess Roujia smiled and said, "Father is threatening me, so I will naturally listen to your arrangements."
Emperor Zhaoming was overjoyed and said to his left and right, "You all heard it! You all have to pay attention to Jiao'er's marriage and help look after her. You must find a man who is worthy of Jiao'er!"
Liu Chen smiled and said, "This is the top priority this year. As the younger brothers, we naturally have to pay attention to the marriage of the imperial sister."
Princess Roujia nodded to Liu Chen and smiled lightly, "Thank you for your concern, my brothers."
"Why should we be so polite when we are a family?" Emperor Zhaoming said with a smile, "Jiao'er, you should stay in the palace these days and talk to me more. How have you been doing outside the palace these years? I am always worried that you have been wronged outside." "Even if your father doesn't trust your son, you should trust your great-aunt. She will never let your son be wronged." Princess Roujia said with a smile.
Emperor Zhaoming and Princess Roujia went down the tower with each other, talking and laughing. Liu Chen was about to follow them, but he saw Prince Ding standing there motionless, with a strange look on his face, so he retreated.
"Uncle, the ceremony is over, why don't you leave?"
Liu Yan looked a little solemn, frowning and wondering what he was thinking.
"Chen'er, it's been three years..."
Liu Chen was startled, and then his face darkened. "Yes,
it's been three years." It has been three years since that tragic battle, but he still wakes up from nightmares and is scared to death. Three years ago, Liu Yan led Liu Chen and Xue Xiaotang to the battle, but they were defeated and almost died on the battlefield. Although they saved their lives, they lost countless trusted generals.
"After three years of investigation, there is still no clue." Liu Chen shook his head, "Uncle, the defeat three years ago, my father has already severely punished all the people involved. Maybe you are just suspicious, and there is no other mastermind behind it."
A trace of coldness flashed in Liu Yan's eyes: "I think so, of course there is a basis. Chen'er, my spies just reported that they found the daughter of Deputy General Yuan."
Liu Chen was shocked: "Deputy General Yuan betrayed you that year, and then fled with his wife and children. After so many years, I still can't find her. Is he really not dead?"
"Tonight's palace banquet, you cover for me, I want to see her, maybe some secrets will be revealed soon."
Dingjing is worthy of being Dingjing. Even Huaizhou, the hub of Jiangnan, is not half as prosperous as Dingjing.
The roar of fireworks illuminated the night sky of Dingjing, and the slightly cold night was warmed up a lot. Because there was no curfew, the Flower Alley was several times more lively than usual that night. When Mu Zhuohua and the others returned to the Flower Alley, it was already late, but the Flower Alley was still brightly lit and bustling with people. Guo Juli held a hot Roujiamo in his hand, and Mu Zhuohua held a small pot of warm Taohuazui. They took a few gulps, and a layer of light pink appeared on their fair face, and their bodies were warmed up.
"Miss, the Xiaoqin Palace in front is so lively!" Guo Juli squinted at the crowd in front, "Let's go and see the excitement."
"Your lady is cold." Mu Zhuohua muttered.
"Miss, you are so weak." Guo Juli said contemptuously.
"I am a normal person, you are a female warrior." Mu Zhuohua defended herself, but she couldn't stop Guo Juli's enthusiasm for watching the show, and she dragged him into the crowd.
Guo Juli asked around and found out that the most famous Xiaoqin Palace in the Flower Alley was selecting a courtesan.
"Miss, look at them." Guo Juli pointed at the dancers on the stage, dumbfounded. The night of the Lantern Festival was still freezing, but the beauties were dancing in gauze, their faces unchanged. "That's what a warrior is."
After the beauty finished her dance, countless golden flowers were thrown onto the stage. Someone came up to clean up the golden flowers and counted them.
"Feng Shuangshuang, there are 1,348 golden flowers."
The crowd was talking: "Last year's number of golden flowers was more than 1,600. This year, Feng Shuangshuang is almost the most beautiful woman."
"And Yun Xiangyue from Xiao Qin Palace hasn't come on stage yet. I heard that she is the pillar of Xiao Qin Palace this year."
Amid the discussion, a flute sounded, and everyone suddenly quieted down and held their breath to look at the stage.
A puff of white smoke came from somewhere on the stage. In the smoke, a woman in a white gauze skirt slowly descended from the sky, but her face could not be seen clearly, and only the faint singing could be heard.
"The moon is shining on the Tianshan Mountain, and the sea of clouds is vast..."
The singing voice is accompanied by the sound of the flute, ethereal and melodious, as if it came from the sky, and the singing woman is ethereal, which makes people imagine infinitely. While intoxicated by the singing, they want to peek into her mysterious face.
During the singing, the smoke gradually dissipated, and Yun Xiangyue's beautiful face appeared in front of everyone. She wore a pure white dress and white satin as a hair ornament. There was no other color on her body - no, the only color was the drop of red cinnabar mole between her eyebrows. This little red alone made her outstanding temperament, as if this was not a place of fireworks, but a fairyland of Guanghan.
The lonely and beautiful woman performed a sad story with singing and dancing on the stage, and people's heartstrings were also touched by her every move. The music became more and more urgent, and the heartbeat became faster and faster. Suddenly, the string broke at the climax, and the woman fell to the ground in a graceful arc like a swan with a broken neck, emitting a whimpering cry.
After a moment of silence, the scene erupted in cheers like a tsunami.
"Yun Xiangyue! Yun Xiangyue!" Everyone shouted her name wildly, and the golden flowers fell on the stage like rain, making it impossible for people to pick them up.
Yun Xiangyue stood quietly on the stage, with an indifferent expression, as if everything had nothing to do with her.
"Yun Xiangyue, 4,530 golden flowers!"
Everyone cheered in disbelief.
"One golden flower is worth ten taels, that's 45,000 taels! Oh my god, that can buy a mountain of pig's trotters. Miss, you are so beautiful, it turns out you can really eat it!" Guo Juli said, counting on his fingers and swallowing his saliva.
Mu Zhuohua knocked on her head: "Guo Juli, you are so arrogant, you have ignored the other three hundred taels. Three hundred taels..."
"Miss, I was wrong." Guo Juli touched his head.
Mu Zhuohua sighed and said, "Don't look at the money, that money is not Yun Xiangyue's, it's for Xiao Qin Gong. Yun Xiangyue not only can't get so much money, but also has to accompany the one who pays the most to eat, drink, and even sleep." Mu Zhuohua punctured Guo Juli's fantasy with one word. Guo Juli shook his head and said, "Then I'd better be ugly. I can make money with my strength. Yun Xiangyue is so beautiful, I don't know which old man she will be with in the end."
This is not what they care about. The two of them went home laughing and closed the door. The noise outside still came in faintly, disturbing people to sleep. No wonder the rent is cheap even though it is located in a prosperous place.
Mu Zhuohua drank a pot of wine and lay on the bed with a drowsy head. While tossing and turning, she suddenly heard a hurried knock on the door. She glanced at Guo Juli who was sleeping soundly, and came out to answer the door with her clothes on.
"Doctor Mu, it's me. I'm Song Yun who came to see you yesterday."
Mu Zhuohua recognized the woman's voice and opened the door a little. "Miss Song, it's so late, what's the matter?"
Tonight, Song Yun wore a thin pink dress, with makeup on her face, and looked anxious.
"Doctor Mu, please come with me!"
Mu Zhuohua frowned slightly and hesitated. "This..."
"I know I'm embarrassing you, but human life is at stake..." Song Yun was so anxious that her eyes turned red, "Please!"
Mu Zhuohua frowned in embarrassment, and finally nodded: "Wait for me to change clothes and get the medicine box."
Mu Zhuohua went back to the house, changed into men's clothes, thought about it, and picked up the eyebrow pencil to draw some concealing makeup on her face. She was slender and thin, and she didn't look like a man even in men's clothes, but her facial features looked more mediocre, which was always safer.
Mu Zhuohua ran all the way with Song Yun carrying the medicine box. At night, a dense spring rain came quietly, extinguishing the hustle and bustle of Dingjing. A trace of coolness penetrated into his heart from his collar. Mu Zhuohua used his sleeves to block the rain. After running for a long time, he stopped following Song Yun's footsteps. When he looked up, he was shocked to find that the two had come to the back door of Xiaoqin Palace.
At this time, the excitement in Xiaoqin Palace had subsided a lot, but the excitement in the room did not stop. When passing through the doors, a blushing voice came from the inner room. Mu Zhuohua smelled the sweet fragrance. It was the first time in his life that he set foot in the place of fireworks. He couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
Song Yun walked very fast, and soon led Mu Zhuohua to a remote room. As soon as Mu Zhuohua stepped into the door, he smelled a strong smell of blood. He took two quick steps to bypass the gauze curtain and couldn't help but be stunned.
A young woman was lying on the carved bed. The woman's clothes were disheveled. Obviously, she had been violently torn. There was blood on her back and the scars were terrible. A little girl was walking around anxiously, her eyes red. When she saw Song Yun bringing people over, she rushed over.
"Sister Song, you're back. Our girl is almost cold! We, we dare not cover her wound with a quilt."
Mu Zhuohua walked past the girl to the bedside, put down the medicine box, checked it and said, "Boil a basin of hot water immediately, and also a pair of scissors."
The girl looked at Mu Zhuohua in a daze. It was only after Song Yun pushed her that she suddenly came to her senses and rushed out immediately.
Mu Zhuohua opened the medicine box and took out the medicine bottle, and Song Yun walked to the bedside.
"Why is she so badly injured?" Mu Zhuohua asked with a frown.
Song Yun bit her lip, with a trace of shame, anger and resentment on her face: "We are just some old and ugly prostitutes, what qualifications do we have to choose customers? When we meet such customers who don't treat us as human beings, we can only bear the humiliation with hatred."
"Mom doesn't care?"
Song Yun shook her head, her face was miserable: "Mom has some trauma medicine, if you get hurt, just rub it yourself, whether it's good or bad, it's your own life. If it can't be cured, wrap it in a straw mat and throw it out of the city, and it's over."
As she spoke, the little girl brought in hot water.
Mu Zhuohua used scissors to cut open the patient's clothes on her back, carefully cleaned the wound, applied medicine, and tossed for a long time before bandaging her wound, acupuncture to stop bleeding, and wrote down a prescription.
"She will have a high fever at night, you must take good care of her, wipe her sweat in time, and find a way to swallow these medicines even if she falls asleep."
The little girl nodded vigorously while holding the prescription, turned around and ran out to get the medicine.
As soon as the door was opened, several women in brocade clothes were seen standing outside the door, looking around hesitantly.
"How is Su Yi's injury?" a woman asked with concern.
"The doctor has treated the girl, and now the bleeding has stopped. I'm going to get medicine for the girl." The maid ran away.
Several women entered the room side by side. Song Yun was a little surprised and looked at them.
"Lvyuan, Hongxiao, Lansheng, why are you here?"
Lvyuan said, "The guests have left. We heard that Su Yi was seriously injured, so we came to see her." Lvyuan's eyes swept over Mu Zhuohua and the medicine box on the table, and she knelt down to her, "I guess it was this female doctor who saved Su Yi. We sisters thank you."
Mu Zhuohua returned the salute: "This is the duty of a doctor, sisters don't need to be polite."
"The duty of a doctor?" Lvyuan laughed sarcastically, "Those doctors outside don't think so."
Hongxiao pulled Lvyuan's sleeve and interrupted her.
"Doctor, since you are here, can you also help us sisters?" Hong Xiao asked with a red face.
Mu Zhuohua paused and nodded: "Okay, but can we find another place so as not to disturb the patient?"
The three of them were immediately overjoyed, and Hong Xiao said: "Come to my place, it's quieter there."
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