Chapter 32 Chapter 32 “Why do you smell like flowers…
After the spring hunt, His Majesty the Queen Mother returned to the Taiji Palace in the capital, and the court officials also returned with her.
In the capital, since Xie Qian took office as the Grand General of the Jinwu Guard, the Jinwu Guard has been reorganized internally and is now continuing to be responsible for public security in the capital.
Xu Qingan returned to the capital by carriage.
The carriage drove on the main road for a while, then turned into the alleys. The alleys in the alleys were not wide, so the carriage inevitably took up most of the space.
Xu Qing sat in the carriage, listening to the sound of the wheels and closing his eyes to rest.
The sound gradually became smaller and slower, and the carriage stopped.
The driver outside said, "Sir, it's General Gu."
A few feet in front of the carriage, a young general in armor sat high on his horse.
That was Gu Chou, the newly appointed General of the Central Army of the Jinwu Guard, who was transferred from the Yulin Guard.
Xu Qing'an's voice came from the carriage: "An Ce."
Ande is Gu Chou's courtesy name.
Gu Chou dismounted his horse upon hearing the voice, walked to the carriage, and turned around to say, "Master Xu."
Xu Qing'an lifted half of the carriage curtain, smiled slightly and sighed, "It's rare for you and me to meet openly like today."
Gu Chou said, "Yes, it is rare to be so upright and aboveboard."
Before this, when Gu Chou was still serving in the Imperial Guard, he had met Xu Qing'an three times.
One time, it was about the Lantern Festival cruise. On the day before the Lantern Festival, he wore casual clothes and went to Xu Qing'an's private residence with Zhang Fan to meet Xu Qing'an.
At that time, in order to help Xu Qing'an push forward one part of the plan, he took advantage of the Yulin Guards to tamper with the interior of the cabin.
Once, on the eve of the spring hunt, Xu Qing'an asked him to go to the forest farm garden to discuss something.
Unfortunately, Shangguan Xu interrupted them halfway and the matter was not completed.
The most recent time was on the day of spring hunting, when Su Shang ran into Xu Qing'an just before he hunted a pheasant.
Fortunately, Xu Qing'an discovered Su Shang's figure in advance, and when Su Shang rushed over and told the story, he covered his departure.
Now, there are two people, one is the Jinwu Guard who is responsible for the security of the capital, and the other is a court official who is passing by the street and is on his way home. Such a meeting can indeed be said to be aboveboard and legitimate.
However, to be on the safe side, Gu Chou's voice was still very low: "The work arranged by the young master has been properly handled, and it is at the location that the young master mentioned."
After Gu Chou was transferred from the Yulin Guard to the Jinwu Guard, he returned to the capital a few days earlier than other court officials. During these few days, he completed the tasks assigned by Xu Qing'an.
Xu Qing'an blinked and nodded: "Okay, thank you for your help."
"Xinzhou is also going to Beijing, and he will take care of the rest." He lowered the curtain and called the driver. Before leaving, he said, "By the way, I also want to thank An Ce for telling me which areas in the forest farm are full of pheasants."
He sighed, "After all, I haven't been there for four years. Many places are very different."
The sound of wheels rolling started again. Gu Chou watched the carriage leave on his horse. He remembered their meeting on the day of the spring hunt.
Xu Qing'an's first words that day were, "It's not easy to hunt pheasants. Take me there first, and we can talk on the way."
——
After returning to the palace, the Ministry of Rites summarized the results of the mission to Western Yan and reported it.
As an envoy, Su Shang took the memorial and went to Shangguan Xu in person to present the details.
"Western Yan has been peaceful ever since Emperor Xuanzong conquered them and made them his vassal. Even though they've had some internal problems in recent years, when I was sent on this diplomatic mission, all factions treated me with respect, as I was an envoy from the Great Jin." Su Shang said as Shangguan Xu read the memorial. "So, in my opinion, the court doesn't need to worry too much about Western Yan's ambitions rekindling and invading again. We just need to strengthen our vigilance."
Shangguan Xu hummed lightly. "What's going on in Western Yan has nothing to do with us, but the war has spread to the border of our Great Jin, which is not acceptable. We sent an envoy to Western Yan to intimidate them. Now that Xu Bai has been there and witnessed their current situation with his own eyes, it's natural for us to follow Xu Bai's advice and increase our border defenses."
As Shangguan Xu placed the memorial, Su Shang noticed something else on her desk. He recognized it as a few shadow puppets and asked, "Your Highness, are you interested in shadow puppets too?"
Shangguan Xu laughed and picked up the shadow puppet to look at it. "This was sent by His Majesty. He thought it was fun and gave it to me to entertain me."
"Your Majesty really respects Your Highness and is very filial to Your Highness." Su Shang praised casually.
Shangguan Xu suddenly felt sad because of this.
Although the little emperor and she were mother and son, if we really judged their relationship based on their original kinship, she should be the little emperor's aunt.
The young emperor was originally the third son of Emperor Zhuang and the son of King Zhou Chao of Zhao.
In the past, King Zhao Zhou Chao, King Feng Zhou Yu and Crown Prince Zhou Jingzhi were good friends with each other. King Zhao was a few years older than the other two and often taught them riding, archery and martial arts. They were three brothers who were a rare example of brotherly love and respect in the royal family.
But among these three good brothers, two died in the same year, one died of a long-term illness, and the other "accidentally fell into the water."
It was also that year that the young emperor lost his father and Shangguan Xu lost her husband.
So rather than the so-called mother-son relationship, Shangguan Xu's feelings for the little emperor were more of a mutual dependence between two people who shared the same suffering.
"Were these shadow puppets all made by Lord Xu from the Ministry of Justice?" While Shangguan Xu was thinking about those things, Su Shang's attention was always focused on those shadow puppets.
Shangguan Xu came back to his senses and put the shadow puppet down casually. "It seems so. I haven't heard that the palace hired other craftsmen to make these. Moreover, the colors of these shadow puppets are similar. They must have been made by the same person."
Speaking of color, Shangguan Xu had just noticed that these shadow puppets were all monochromatic, primarily blue and yellow. She couldn't help but ask, "Are all shadow puppets primarily blue and yellow? I remember watching shadow puppet shows before, and they had a lot of colors, right?"
Su Shang replied, "Yes, I also remember the shadow puppets in those shadow puppet shows that Your Highness and I watched together when we were young. They were all very vivid and their styles and colors were also rich and colorful."
Shangguan Xu looked at the puppets and pondered: "What about him? He chose to use these two colors as the main colors..."
"Perhaps these two colors are easier to make." Su Shang guessed casually, "Master Xu is not a professional shadow puppet craftsman after all, so many aspects of his work cannot be compared with the shadow puppets we have seen before."
He then advised, "However, in my opinion, Your Majesty should pay more attention to your Majesty's studies. Excessive exposure to these little gadgets will inevitably lead to neglect of learning."
Shangguan Xu smiled slightly: "Of course. Before, we were just in the palace, so we allowed him to have more fun. Now that we are back in the capital, he needs to work harder."
"He went to practice archery today. He was ashamed of himself at the spring hunt because he could only pull the lightest bow. After returning, he made up his mind that he must be like those generals and be able to ride a fierce horse and shoot birds of prey when he grows up."
Su Shang smiled, "His Royal Highness the Prince of Zhao, who once defended his territory with his martial arts, was a world-class archer and horseman. Now that His Majesty is so determined, his goal will surely be achieved soon."
Shangguan Xu smiled when he heard this, but there was a look of disappointment in his eyes.
Yes, how could a person who could defend a region with his martial arts skills end up being seriously ill and passing away so early?
——
Xu Qing'an returned to his house in the capital. Just as he sat down to drink a sip of water, Xun Yang came in with a piece of letter paper attached to a carrier pigeon.
"Your letter." After handing it over, he sat down on the seat next to Xu Qing'an.
Xu Qing'an opened the letter, glanced at it, and then closed it again: "Xinzhou has set off for the capital."
"Chen Xinzhou is coming to the capital too..." Xun Yang asked, "What about his business in Jiangnan?"
Xu Qing'an said unconcernedly, "So the letter said that Jiangnan had made preparations beforehand before he set out."
Xun Yang raised his eyebrows: "It seems that Manager Shen is planning to expand his business to the capital. Have you arranged a place for him to stay?"
"Yeah, I asked An Ce to help do it before." Xu Qing'an took another sip of water.
Xun Yang was not a member of the imperial court, and he only listened to Xu Qing'an's plans as a story to pass the time. Of course, he came for his own reasons.
Xun Yang straightened his body, held his head high, and said in a clear voice, "Alright, stop thinking about your things. Stretch out your hand first, and I'll take your pulse as usual."
Xu Qing'an was stunned.
Xun Yang noticed his startled expression and turned to look at him. "What? Do you really think I'm your messenger, solely responsible for delivering your letter?"
"Hurry up and stretch out your hand! My master is still waiting for your pulse diagnosis."
Xu Qing'an swallowed the words in his mouth, but finally sighed and stretched out his hand.
After feeling his pulse, Xun Yang was surprised and said, "Is your royal palace so magical? My pulse would improve after just one month there."
Xu Qing'an was confused: "What do you mean?"
Xun Yang said seriously, "That's exactly what I meant. This time, after the Xue Hong incident ended, I had to return to Beijing early because I needed to make an antidote. I was worried something might happen to you during that time, but I didn't expect your pulse to change so drastically in just two weeks."
Seeing his expression, Xu Qing'an couldn't help but think he was exaggerating. He said, "Although the poison hasn't been cleared yet, I believe the rest of my body is normal, and I haven't had many colds. It's not like you say, like someone who has been ill for a long time has suddenly recovered."
Xun Yang nodded: "Maybe I expressed it incorrectly, but that's exactly what I meant."
He said, "Although you appear healthy and free of illness, in fact, in addition to the residual toxins in your body, your internal organs are also constantly stagnant. You must know that Qi, blood, and meridians are the foundation of the body, and the stagnant Qi that wanders within them is the source of all diseases."
"This is why we often say that some people appear to be safe on the outside, but are actually riddled with holes and on the verge of collapse on the inside."
"Plus, you're still afflicted with residual poison. Even if you've taken good care of other areas, you can't stop the disease from spreading from within." Xun Yang offered comfort, "But you're feeling much better now. Although the depression hasn't subsided, at least your pulse isn't as chaotic anymore."
"What have you experienced recently?" Xun Yang leaned over and asked probingly.
Xu Qing'an looked away with a strange expression: "I didn't experience anything."
Xun Yang didn't believe it. He was about to ask more questions but suddenly frowned and sniffed: "Did you use incense?"
"Of course not." Xu Qing'an denied decisively: "You know, I have long since changed my habit of using incense."
Xun Yang: "Then why do you smell like flowers? It seems so familiar..." He suddenly shuddered, "It's like the scent she left behind when she came here that day!"
"who!"
"The one in the palace!"
Xu Qingan immediately said: "Impossible!"
During those days in the palace, they did spend a lot of time together, and even had some intimate moments, but even if her fragrance was transmitted to him during their contact, there was no way that the fragrance would remain after he changed his clothes and bathed.
Although Xun Yang's sense of smell is more sensitive than that of ordinary people, he can't detect it like this.
wrong!
Xu Qing'an suddenly remembered something. He pulled out a neatly folded handkerchief from his bosom and asked, "Is the smell you're talking about the one on top?"
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