She fell out after crying at the wrong grave

It will be dawn.

The corridors are winding and secluded, and the paths that should have been lush with flowers and trees are now filled with dead trees and branches, making the place lifeless.

The maid holding the lamp led Li Shuyuan, who was wearing a long cloak and holding a wooden box in her arms, through the quiet mansion and came to deliver the court robes in person.

"Please come in, sir." When she arrived in front of the carved door, the maid nodded and bowed, then opened the door for her.

This residence was specially built for Hengqi by Emperor Wu'an when he entered the capital. It is located on the west street of the capital, secluded and open, not far from the royal palace, an excellent location.

Although Shen Cong is stubborn and self-righteous, he has always advocated expanding territory. In the past, Emperor Wu'an valued Heng Qi, and in order to protect the border and dominate the north, Shen Cong also favored Heng Qi.

Therefore, although he basically looked down on the civil officials in the court except for those like Jin Feng who were used to flattering, he was generous to the military generals.

Although it had not been repaired for a long time, Li Shuyuan could tell from the painted beams and furnishings in the house that Heng Qi had once been a favorite of the previous emperor.

Although she always felt that Xu's marriage to Marquis Zhao would be a great honor, she was not a good match.

In the past, when Hengqi went to the palace banquet, Li Shuyuan, as a female official of the Shanggong Bureau, had also seen her nearby. There was no trace of human affection in her eyes.

Or maybe he didn't care about the love in the world at all. All he had in his eyes was the desire for war and the greed for blood.

This kind of person may be a sharp weapon on the battlefield, but he is not a good match for anyone.

At that time, Shen Cong wanted to give him a beauty, but it was hard to say whether he really wanted to give it to him or had someone monitor him. Li Shuyuan only heard that he accepted them all and left them all in this mansion without taking any of them to Kezhou.

The man is gone, and it is futile to speculate on the motives behind Heng Qi's past actions. Besides, Xu is also gone, and the right and wrong are all past events.

Li Shuyuan took a deep breath and walked into the inner room of the main hall.

It was a cold day, the window was half open, and a tall, slender man in thin clothes stood in front of him. His well-proportioned knuckles were holding the grindstone, and the blue veins were faintly visible.

The other person lowered his head slightly, his eyes were like a cold pond, fixed on the small dagger in his right hand. It was exactly the same as the early cold outside the window.

Perhaps he was someone who had been to the battlefield. He could not conceal the solemn and cold aura around him. Besides, his features were bright and he looked more like a young master from a wealthy family.

Li Shuyuan paused and couldn't help but take a closer look.

Hearing the rustling sound of clothes rubbing against each other, Heng Zhi raised his head due to his long-term alert habit, no matter how light the footsteps of the person came were.

It really looks like it.

Li Shuyuan had only heard people say that children are more likely to resemble their mothers, and since she herself had never married or had children, she did not think this saying was so absurd. When she saw Hengzhi today, it was as if Xu, who had appeared as a young girl decades ago, was standing before her again.

Except for the fact that his features were three-tenths like Heng Qi, the rest of his appearance was exactly like his mother.

In the past, the Xu family lady was a famous heroine in the capital. She did not like to wear cosmetics or perfumes, and her fair face was enhanced by her dark eyebrows and red lips.

But because she was too pretty, many people felt that she was not graceful and gentle enough, and few people suggested marriages for her.

Since Hengzhi was born, Xu never returned to the capital until her death, and Li Shuyuan had never seen Hengzhi.

Now it seems that if Xu had given birth to a boy, it would have been a completely different scene with fruits filling the carriage.

"Gong Lady Li is fine." Hengzhi put down what he was holding, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and bowed humbly.

Li Shuyuan suddenly came to her senses, still carefully remembering the etiquette, and quickly returned the greeting, "Young Marquis, please forgive me. I am only a fifth-rank palace lady, how dare I accept your greeting."

Hengzhi took the wooden box from her personally, and he knew that Li Shuyuan had something to say, and that was why she came all this way. After dismissing several attendants, Hengzhi returned to his senses, lit a candle, and boiled a pot of snow water.

"I was born in the north, and the snow water is not clean, so I am not good at making tea. I am sorry to show off my skills in front of an expert, but please take a seat."

This is the truth. With frequent business trips in the north, not many people have the patience to wait for the snow to melt, boil it, and then cook it with new tea to enjoy its fragrance.

Therefore, when people in the north drink tea, they mostly put tea leaves into boiling water and steep it, which makes the flavor much worse.

This is the only tea-brewing technique I learned from A'ao.

At this point, all of Li Shuyuan's ideas about the young Marquis of Zhao that he had heard from others were overturned and he started over again.

Li Shuyuan sat down at ease, but couldn't help but sigh, "The young marquis looks a lot like your mother."

Heng Zhi forced a smile on his indifferent face, "I have heard my mother mention the title of Shang Gong many times."

In a flash, many years have passed.

Li Shuyuan sighed lightly, and before she could feel sad about the passing of time, she quickly brought up the business, "I came here today because I have something that I need to let the young marquis know."

The tea is the best Ziyang tea, which exudes a rich aroma as soon as it is poured into the cup.

"The young marquis asked me about the princess's recent situation, so I have been keeping an eye on Changsheng Hall." Li Shuyuan frowned, "But as you know, His Majesty has ordered the closure of Changsheng Hall, and the Shanggong Bureau has limited power. So when I sent someone to deliver court clothes to the princess yesterday, I found that she had been ill for half a month and had not recovered."

Hengzhi paused as he held the kettle, tightened his grip a little, and asked, "Are you sick? What are the symptoms?"

When Li Shuyuan saw the change in his mood, she guessed something.

The princess was brought back from Kezhou. Hengzhi was the Marquis of Kezhou. He came all the way from here to ask about her recent situation. There must be an unusual relationship between them.

Li Shuyuan pulled out a paper bag from her sleeve and unfolded it on the table. "The princess is smart. She thought that the person I sent would definitely bring back her words. She also guessed that there might be something wrong with the medicine she drank, so she asked my confidant to bring the news and check the problem with the medicine residue."

Hengzhi picked up a wooden spoon and fiddled with the medicine residue in the paper bag.

Although it was chopped into small pieces, one could vaguely distinguish some Angelica dahurica and Asarum spicata, as well as some whole Magnolia flos, all of which were antipyretic drugs, and should be a prescription for wind-cold. If it was wind-cold, how could it not be cured in half a month, but instead last for a long time?

Li Shuyuan explained calmly, "I also sought out a famous scholar in the city overnight. There is nothing wrong with the herbs themselves, but there is a herb called Asparagus cochinchinensis that is crushed very finely, which has a counteracting effect on the princess's illness."

Hengzhi was not proficient in medicine, and had no idea about the incompatibility of medicines. Living in the north, the weather was cold all year round, and he only knew that after adding asparagus, the symptoms would worsen instead of improve, which was not conducive to recovery.

But all the imperial doctors in the palace are the best in the field of medicine, so it is impossible for them not to know this truth.

Hengzhi looked at the dried and blackened medicinal residues in silence for a long time.

He originally thought that she would suffer when she returned to the capital, but the palace should also consider that she was about to marry and not treat her too harshly. Now it seems that he was too superficial.

The situation of the court is changing rapidly now. Taxes are heavy in various places and people are living in poverty. In addition, the summer is very hot and the autumn is cold early, which is not good for farming. The grain harvest has decreased, and there are some changes in various places. I just hope to find an opportunity to start a rebellion and overthrow this castle in the air court.

No matter what, we can't wait any longer and must find a way to take Ah'an away as soon as possible.

He wanted the living Cui Yong and would rather obey the order in exchange than have a dead skeleton of a princess.

Li Shuyuan saw that the teacup had cracked in Hengzhi's hand, so she asked another question, "As your aunt, I have something I want to ask you, Ahzhi."

The reason why he called her so intimately must be out of consideration for his mother.

Heng Zhi nodded, "Whatever my mother asks, I will tell her everything I know."

Even with such frankness, Li Shuyuan was even more worried, "What are you thinking?"

The sky is bright.

Inside and outside the palace walls, it is a new day.

"How is it, is it okay to look like this?"

In front of the dressing mirror, Ah'ao smiled, fearing that her makeup was too light and could not hide her sick appearance.

In fact, she still couldn't get out of bed yesterday, but when she thought about seeing Hengzhi today, she seemed to feel strength in her limbs and was full of energy again.

The court dress sent by the Shangfu Bureau was said to be a bright red color. The previous dynasty advocated the restoration of rituals, and the princess's clothes should be of this color. In A's opinion, they were just bright red.

In order to show Shen Zhuo's magnanimity and Da Chong's wealth, he spent countless amounts of money to make this one piece of clothing, which was worn three times a year.

Ying'en held a wooden comb in her hand and stood behind, watching the dressmaker from the Shangfu Bureau dressing up A'ao. She couldn't help but smile, "Of course, Your Highness has a beautiful face, and she looks good even without makeup."

After hearing the sweet compliments, Ah'ao laughed so hard that she coughed a few times and almost coughed up tears.

Although it has some mental effects, Ah'ao still feels that since taking the medicine twice a day since yesterday, her strength has indeed recovered a lot. It can be seen that there must be something wrong with this medicine.

Today is the New Year's banquet and everyone is busy. Even if Yang Siyi helped, he would not come to tell her today.

The dressmakers left the palace gate when it was time to change clothes. Ying'en held the complicated robes and put them on A'an one by one.

It's like a wooden rack that is born to hang clothes. No matter whether it feels good or not, you have to accept it.

So does the princess.

Ying'en looked at her looking into the bronze mirror and said with a smile, "Your Highness looks like you are about to meet your lover. I remember you said you didn't like palace banquets."

Ah'ao adjusted the pendant on her waist and answered slowly after a long while.

"Yes, I don't like the palace banquet, but I want to meet Henglang."

When a person is sick, his words tend to be more pretentious.

Only when she actually walked into Haiping Pavilion did she realize how expensive this year's banquet was.

After taking a seat below the dragon throne, Xiao Jinshi sat opposite A'ao, looking at her from a distance, provocatively.

A'ao was too lazy to pay attention to her and looked around.

In the Haiping Pavilion, the draperies hanging on the pillars were all made of Xiangyun yarn worth fifty taels of silver. This was a specialty of Shu. Wang Xuan, the Marquis of Shu, declined the banquet due to illness and sent a lot of precious items from Shu to the new emperor to apologize.

In a blink of an eye, these yarns were used in such inconspicuous places.

Ah'an was amazed, it would be great if all the money was given to her.

Shen Zhuo arrived here with great fanfare. Ah-yi knelt for a full stick of incense before he finally sat down and shouted with satisfaction, "Stand up."

Ah'ao felt dizzy and leaned against the corner of the table. Ying'en helped her from behind and she finally stood up steadily.

Shen Zhuo's eyes fell on Ah-yi, with a hint of sarcasm and amusement, "My dear niece, you seem to have lost a lot of weight recently."

Ah'ao cursed in her heart, wondering why I had disappeared. I didn't know that you had any idea about it and were mistreating me on purpose.

With a polite smile, he just replied "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern" when he was interrupted by a loud announcement from outside the palace.

"Kezhou summoned the Marquis to an audience—"

She turned her head suddenly, and the dazzling pearls hit her cheeks and ears.

(End of this chapter)