Lamp Flower Smile

After Xiaoman, it rained more in Shengjing.

The river under the Luoyue Bridge is deep and swollen. After the Silkworm Praying Festival, "silkworm women cook cocoons, work on carts and reel silk." New silk is on the market, and the business of the tailor shop and silk shoe shop next door is booming day by day.

The wind was chilly in the morning and evening. Du Changqing was too aggressive in taking off his clothes and caught the wind chill. He rarely came to the hospital these days. The business of the medical clinic was deserted. After the "Chun Shui Sheng" was no longer available for sale, there were only a few people visiting the hospital.

Acheng went to the market to buy bitter vegetables. During the Xiaoman season, it is advisable to eat bitter vegetables to replenish energy and lighten the body. Lu Zhu was washing and picking bitter vegetables in the hospital while listening to the chatter of the vendors on West Street.

In this chat, the Ke family, who was involved in the Shengjing Kiln porcelain business, was occasionally mentioned.

I heard that the Ke family, who sell kiln porcelain in Shengjing, have been having a hard time recently.

Master Ke drowned mysteriously in Wan'en Temple. Officials came to check and found no traces, so they closed the case as if he was drunk and fell into the water. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Ke Chengxing was deliberately ignored by the government because he secretly worshiped the statue of the previous dynasty.

Since this happened to the Ke family, people who used to do business with the Ke family came to visit one after another. Since the birthday party at Taishi Mansion, the Ke family has made connections with a number of officials through their connections with Taishi Mansion. Now that it is about the previous dynasty, whoever dares to make fun of Wu Sha Mao has withdrawn all orders with the Ke family.

When Ke Chengxing married the Qin family, in order to win over Qin's father, Mrs. Ke handed over the stewardship to the Qin family. Now that Mrs. Qin has returned to her parents' home in anger, Mrs. Ke realizes that without even realizing it, Mrs. Qin has spent a large sum of money to subsidize the Qin family, and the account books are in dire straits.

As a last resort, Mrs. Ke had to pawn her house and shop to pay for her debts, leaving little of her decades of savings. There was a big chaos in the house, the servants scattered, ran away, some rolled up Xinruan and ran away. The Wanfu family, who had been with Ke Chengxing for many years, also left Beijing secretly one night without saying goodbye.

Lu Chen was not surprised when he heard the news. Wan Fu was a smart man. When Lu Rou got into trouble, Ke Chengxing still kept him by his side because he was cautious. Wanfu, this person is not greedy. Ke Chengxing's death is ultimately related to him. Now it's easy for the government to stop pursuing him. If he doesn't take advantage of this and escapes, he may end up with a bad end if old scores are revealed in the future. It's better to take the family and leave while the Ke family is in chaos.

What surprised Lu Zhen was the Grand Master's Mansion.

Mrs. Ke's family was defeated and she was desperate. She secretly went to the Grand Master's Mansion once, perhaps hoping to ask for help from the Grand Master's Mansion. However, he couldn't even enter the gate of Taishi Mansion.

Lu Chen originally thought that the Grand Master's Mansion would lend a helping hand to the Ke family because Lu Rou was in Mrs. Ke's hands, but he did not expect that the Grand Master's Mansion was not afraid at all. Then I thought about it, Lu Rou died at the hands of Ke Chengxing, and even if she told the story, the Ke family would not be able to get over it. The Taishi Mansion is naturally confident.

but……

Dare to visit the Taishi Mansion at this juncture, no matter whether Mrs. Ke has the intention of threatening or not, the end will not be too good.

After picking the last bunch of bitter herbs, Yin Zheng walked in from outside the shop.

Acheng was sweeping the floor at the door. Yin Zheng walked up to Lu Chen and whispered, "Girl, I heard about the news from the Fan family."

Lu Zhuo raised his eyes.

Yin Zheng lowered his voice: "Master Fan, the detailed judge of the Sentencing Court, was promoted once in September last year."

Lu Tong was startled: "Promoted?"

September of the thirty-seventh year of Yongchang was three months after Lu Rou's death. At this time, according to Wanfu's original words, Lu Qian had come to the capital, met Mrs. Ke, and for some reason became a wanted suspect by the government.

Is Lu Qian's imprisonment related to the promotion of Fan Zhenglian, the judge of the Criminal Court?

Yin Zheng continued: "There was indeed a case in the Prison Department in September last year. The police of the Prison Department mentioned that first someone asked to see Fan Zhenglian to report against the officials. Later, for some reason, the complainant was wanted again. It was said that he was wanted. He broke into the house and robbed the property. Mr. Cao’s people said that the whole city was wanted at that time and there was a big fuss. The suspect was hidden in hiding. It was his relatives who exterminated their relatives and told the government where he was hiding, so he was caught. Girl, " Yin Zheng hesitated, "Do you have any relatives in Shengjing?"

When Lu Zhen heard this, he was also confused and just shook his head: "No."

The Lu family has very few relatives. If she really had relatives in Shengjing, maybe Lu Rou wouldn't be so weak and bullied like this.

"I have asked Mr. Cao to continue to inquire about that relative, but Mr. Cao said that it is difficult to inquire about matters related to the government, and there is money..." Yin Zheng sighed, "This time it is Du Yin who is asking for information. The shopkeeper gave us money for the materials to make new medicines. He has been ill these past few days and has not seen us. If he knew that we spent most of the money and still haven't produced anything, I don't know how angry he would be..."

Just as he was talking, Lu Zhuo suddenly stood up, opened the felt curtain and walked inside.

Yin Zheng was stunned for a moment: "What are you going to do, girl?"

Lu Chen replied: "Make new medicine."

Acheng followed behind with a broom and asked strangely: "Didn't I say this morning that I still don't know how to make a new medicine?"

"I know now."

…

The Palace Commander's Mansion is located in the southwest edge of the Imperial City, just outside Shangjin Gate, with a large martial arts training ground behind it. Summer is in full bloom, and the martial arts arena is filled with heat.

It was cold and windy in the dungeon.

Gloomy torches flickered on the wall, and screams could be faintly heard from deep within the cell.

In a torture chamber at the back, six people were locked on a row of iron frames. Two men in black stood in front of the rack. With a "swish" sound, two buckets of pungent salt water were poured onto the rack, and there was a sudden scream in the prison.

There was a person sitting on the dark wood chair directly in front of the shelf. The young man was wearing a black arrow suit, holding a pair of iron pliers in his hand, and was carelessly fiddling with the soldering iron in the brazier at his feet.

Torture tools were scattered all around, and the knives, needles, and iron tools glowed with a dark and cold light. Someone's voice rang out, with suppressed pain, and said angrily: "Pei Yunying, if you want to kill and behead me, why bother?"

"How can that be done?" Pei Yunying said with a smile: "I've already entered here, how can I still make you happy?"

He fiddled with the iron tongs in the brazier a few times. The black jade inlaid turquoise ring between his fingers reflected a bit of emerald color. Ruo Lin cleared the channel, but after a moment, he picked up a piece of soldering iron.

He walked up to the speaker.

These six people were all stripped of their clothes, their eyes bound with cloth and locked on an iron frame. There was almost no good flesh left on their bodies. After being tortured and then splashed with chili salt water, if you don't have enough willpower, you will have confessed after the first torture.

But not everyone in the world is afraid of pain.

He stood still in front of the speaker, turned his head to look at the other person, and suddenly moved the red-hot iron under the iron pliers towards the person's chest.

There was a sound of "呲——".

The smell of burning flesh suddenly arose, and a hoarse howl sounded in the cell.

This man's chest had already been tortured. The old injury hadn't healed yet, so adding a new injury would not hurt. Pei Yunying's expression was indifferent, and he couldn't tell the difference between happiness and anger. His hand movements were not loose at all, and the soldering iron was pressed tightly against the opponent's chest, as if it wanted to penetrate into the opponent's flesh and melt into his bones.

Burning gas filled the surroundings, and the screams echoed in the dungeon for a long time. The blindfolded people couldn't see the scene, making this terrifying and gloomy scene even more terrifying.

For a long time, amid the screams, the prisoner on the far left finally couldn't help but whisper: "...I said."

"Shut up!" The man who was being tortured was shocked when he heard this. He ignored the pain on his body and shouted: "How dare you..."

The next moment, a bright silver light flashed, and the scolding stopped abruptly.

Pei Yunying had a long knife sheathed on his waist. If it weren't for the blood on the ground, it would seem that the killing move he had just made with the knife was not made by his hand.

The man on the rack had his neck hanging down, blood gurgling from his throat, and there was no sound.

In the suffocating silence, he tilted his head, dropped the iron pliers in his hand, looked at the person who had just spoken, and said with a smile: "Now, you can speak."

There was a moment of silence in the cell.

The prisoner was blindfolded, and the unknown was more terrifying than the known. Although he couldn't see what was happening, the man who had scolded him just now was silent now, so he could guess a little bit. There was some fear on the man's face, and he said anxiously: "...Yes, it's Mr. Fan."

"Oh?" Pei Yunying raised an eyebrow, "Fan Zhenglian?"

"Yes...yes," the prisoner said nervously: "On the day when Lu Dashan, the military horse prisoner, had an accident, the men of the Prison Department were dispatched by your Excellency in advance. Your Excellency knew about Lu Dashan's death."

Pei Yunying smiled: "As expected."

He turned around, took the handkerchief handed to him by the person next to him, lowered his head and carefully wiped the blood stains on his hands, and finally walked out of the door.

The guard behind him followed: "Master."

Pei Yunying stood still: "Did you hear clearly just now?"

Before the guard Qing Feng could speak, another person hurried up from the front, a man dressed as a servant. The servant walked up to Pei Yunying. After bowing, he said respectfully: "Your Majesty, I came here on the master's order. Next month is my birthday. I miss you dearly, so please go home and get together."

Qing Feng stood behind Pei Yunying and did not dare to speak.

Everyone around them knew that Pei Yunying and Mr. Zhaoning had always been at odds with each other. After returning to Beijing a few years ago, he simply bought a house outside and never returned to Pei's house to spend the night except for the annual ancestral ceremony for his late wife.

When mentioning the Pei family, his master saw no intimacy in his eyes, only disgust. Come to think of it, the servants of the Pei family will return in vain this time.

Sure enough, when Pei Yunying heard this, he didn't want to answer: "I don't have time."

The servant wiped his sweat and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, I haven't seen you for a long time. My master has been in poor health recently. I hope that Your Majesty..."

"Want me to say it again?"

The servant hesitated.

This prince is as happy and angry as he pleases. He looks amiable, but is actually ruthless. His temperament is not as gentle and polite as the second young master. Even Duke Zhaoning, who is so strong, cannot control his son, let alone a little servant like him.

The servant Nuonuo nodded and ran away.

Pei Yunying stared at his back, the color in his eyes was like the deep black in the dungeon, without sadness or joy.

Qing Feng asked: "Master, what should I do with those in prison?"

The wanted information has been obtained, and the criminal trial is over.

"People trained by the prison chief have a tough mouth but soft bones."

He said: "Keep the one just now, the others are useless, kill them."

"yes."

…

"Girl, the two herrings sent by Mrs. Song from the silk shoe shop next door have turned white, and the fish scales have been removed..."

"The rest are of no use, just kill them." Lu Yan said.

"this……"

Yin Zheng looked at the two dying fish in the wooden basin with some embarrassment.

The vendors on West Street all had good relations with their neighbors. It turned out that Du Changqing and Acheng were in charge of Renxin Medical Center and were too lazy to deal with the surrounding vendors. The situation has changed somewhat since Lu Zhen and his two men arrived.

Yin Zheng has a sweet mouth and is very observant. She often distributes cheap fruits and snacks to the neighbors on the street. People come and go, and she is pretty and lovable. After going back and forth, she has become familiar with the people in the street shop, and she often collects them. Some return gifts from others.

These two big herrings were a return gift from Mrs. Song.

Sister-in-law Song sent two herrings to Yin Zheng and told her: "Miss Yin Zheng, take these two herrings back to make soup to replenish your body. Dr. Lu is too thin and looks like paper. I'm really scared." A gust of wind blew it away!"

Yin Zheng brought the herring back. Before she could decide whether to steam or bake it, Lu Zhuo took a knife and scraped off the scales on the two fishes, saying that he would use the scales to make medicine.

The fish's scales were shaved off and it floated on the water with a white belly turned over. It looked like it was dying.

Yin Zheng stood there without moving. Lu Zhu raised his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

"...Girl," Yin Zheng said awkwardly, "I don't know how to kill fish."

In the flower house, she learned singing, dancing, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, but she never learned how to wash hands and make soup. This cooking skill was learned reluctantly from Lu Shu. It can only be said to cook the food. As for the bloody things like killing fish, it is even more distant.

Lu Yan glanced at her, stopped grinding the medicine, stood up from the stone table, picked up the knife and the wooden basin, walked to the corner of the yard and squatted down, grabbed a herring and threw it on the table. The less lively herring was thrown to the point where it stopped moving. Lu Zhuo simply cut the fish belly with a knife and took out the internal organs.

Yin Zheng was dumbfounded.

"Girl, you can even kill fish." Yin Zheng carried a small spoon under her body for her. She sat on the side with her chin in her hands and looked at it. She couldn't help but say in admiration, "You look quite skilled at it."

Lu Tong picked up the gourd in the water tank and poured a ladle of water on the fish to wash away the blood. Then he grabbed another herring, cut open its intestines with a knife, lowered his head and said, "I used to kill them all the time in the mountains."

"Ah?" Yin Zheng was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Is it because I need to get the medicine?"

Lu Zhuo kept moving his hands for a long time before saying "hmm".

Yin Zheng nodded: "That's it." He glanced at the blood on Lu Yan's hands again and swallowed, "It's just scary to see the blood."

Lu Chen didn't speak.

In fact, she is not only good at killing fish, but also handles other wild beasts with ease, but it is not to get medicine, most of the time, it is just to fill her stomach.

Yun Niang is a very particular person about food, and she also loves to cook. To make tea, she needs to melt water from the snow that she saved all winter. The pasta needs to be made into delicate chess pieces, and it takes 24 seconds to make wontons. Take twenty-four kinds of flower-shaped fillings with different solar terms.

Unfortunately, Yun Niang spent too little time in the mountains.

Yun Niang often goes down the mountain, and she stays there for most of the month. Sometimes the rice left on the mountain can last for a while. Sometimes Yun Niang forgets to leave food, and Lu Zhuo can only starve.

At that time, she had just arrived at Luomei Peak and couldn't even find the way down the mountain. The first time I was hungry and dizzy, I picked up an injured chickadee on the ground in front of the house.

The young Lu Chen struggled for a long time and finally roasted the tit.

When she was in the Lu family, she was timid and spoiled. She rarely worked because of the pampering of the family. She would be frightened when she saw a bee or a snake on weekdays. However, when a person is hungry and dizzy, she doesn't care whether she is afraid or not. Can be driven by appetite.

Lu Chen still remembers the feeling when he ate roasted tits for the first time.

At that time, she was raw and clumsy. She didn't even understand that roasting a bird requires plucking the feathers and removing the internal organs. She just put it on the fire and roasted it until it turned into a pitch-black mass. She thought it was cooked, so she bit into it and got out the smallest bits. Bloodstains.

Lu Yan cried with a "wow", and a trace of disgusting bloody smell emerged from her throat. She opened her mouth to vomit, but the hunger in her belly reminded her that there was no other food here. So I could only endure the unbearable fishy smell and swallow the roasted black tit in one bite.

That was the most painful meal Lu Yan had ever eaten since he was born.

However, after that day, she began to realize something. In Luomeifeng, if you want to survive, you can't always place your hopes on others. She gradually learned to make hunting traps and was able to catch small rabbits. She also learned to clean these wild beasts and make them into dried meat for storage, so as not to run out of food next time.

When Yun Niang came back and saw her, she was very surprised that she was still alive. She also saw the dried meat she had hidden in the jar, and looked at her even more strangely.

"Not bad." She said to Lu Chen, "So far, you are the one who has lived the longest on Luomei Peak." She approached Lu Meng with a strange smile, "I don't know, you can make it down the mountain alive."

There's no telling if you'll make it down the mountain alive.

Lu Yan lowered his eyes.

Later, Yun Niang died and there was no one else on Luomei Peak. She did make it to the end and came down the mountain alive.

only……

It's just that the child who could cry and swallow roasted tits at the same time has probably disappeared forever.

The herring under his command suddenly flicked its tail, and the water splashed on his face, giving him a slight chill, and Lu Zhuo came back to his senses.

The herring has been cut cleanly, but it still has the energy to move. Lu Zhuo wiped off the water droplets on his face, Yin Zheng stood up, picked up the two cleaned big herrings, put them in the kitchen, and said with a smile: "That's good now. How do you want to eat this fish, girl?"

"what ever."

"Then just steam it." Yin Zheng said. Her cooking skills were mediocre, but fortunately Lu Chen was not picky about food.

Yin Zheng had just steamed the herring, and Lu Yan on the other side had already asked her to come in. When she entered the room, she saw a stack of thick paper on the table in front of the window.

"This is..." Yin Zheng picked up a piece of paper and was startled.

This piece of paper is very beautiful, it is light pink, and when you get closer and smell it, you can smell a light floral fragrance. If writing is written on this piece of paper, if nothing else is said, just looking at it will inevitably make people's hearts move.

The pen and ink were all ready, and Yin Zheng looked at Lu Yun in confusion.

"The new medicine is almost ready." Lu Yan said, "I still need your help."

"Are you going to write?" Yinzheng suddenly wondered.

The previous "Chun Shui Sheng" became popular in Shengjing in a short period of time. In addition to Hu Yuanwai's help at the flower viewing party, Yin Zheng's poems wrapped in the medicinal tea also played a big role. There are many literati in Shengjing, and there are many elegant people who like tea. When they see the name "Chun Shuisheng", they are willing to spend money to buy some fun.

Always a gimmick.

However, the paper now looks different from the paper Chun Shuisheng used before. It is more like a flower note used by a woman to convey her affection or a poem in her boudoir.

"What does the girl want me to write?" Yin Zheng asked.

Lu Tong thought for a while: "Do you have any good words to describe a woman's graceful appearance?"

"Yes, there is, but..."

"Just write that." Lu Yan said.