As soon as Li Zhiyun came from the front hall, the maid greeted him with a smile and said that the lady was waiting for him in the room. She led Li Zhiyun to the lady's boudoir, made tea for them and then went out.

Li Zhiyun and Liu Yinglian sat face to face, with their eyes facing each other, big eyes staring into small eyes. They hadn't seen each other for half a year, and I don't know if it was because of excitement. Liu Yinglian's face was red, and even her neck seemed to be coated with a layer of rouge. Her peach

Her cheeks are like jade, and her naturally charming eyes, dark eyebrows and fan-shaped eyelashes show graceful curves, which are breathtakingly beautiful.

Li Zhiyun's heart surged with impulses. If in later generations, two people had not seen each other for such a long time, once they met, they would inevitably hug and kiss. However, this was in ancient times, and no disrespect was done. No matter how much desire he had in his heart,

I can only suppress it.

Liu Yinglian's cheeks burned due to his direct gaze, and she lowered her head in shame. According to common sense, men from outside were not allowed to enter the lady's boudoir. But Li Zhiyun was different. Firstly, he had a distinguished status, and secondly,

Although there was no big gift or formal marriage proposal when she came to the Li family, her father had already verbally agreed to the marriage, and he could be regarded as her future husband. Therefore, she made an exception and allowed Li Zhiyun to enter her boudoir.

Seeing that he was staring at Liu Yinglian so shyly, Li Zhiyun had no choice but to look away, and started chatting without saying anything. The two chatted for a while, and Li Zhiyun suddenly remembered the conversation he had just had with Liu Hong, and an idea flashed in his mind, and he hurriedly said

"Alian, in two days, I am going to Pizhou with your father to find a wealthy businessman to discuss business. Why don't you come with us?"

"Going to Pizhou? Is that far?"

"What's the point of being afraid of being far away? It's a carriage ride anyway. Besides, we can walk slowly and visit places with beautiful scenery."

Liu Yinglian thought for a while and said, "Okay, let me think about it."

"Don't think about it. The weather is neither hot nor cold now. Wouldn't it be boring to stay at home all the time? It's better to go out for an outing..."

After convincing Liu Yinglian, Li Zhiyun asked his father to tell him that he would leave Chang'an for a while to inspect government affairs. Who asked him to still bear the title of Yongzhou Shepherd? His father could not object, so he agreed.

When the prince goes out on patrol, there must be a guard of honor. However, Li Zhiyun's trip is mainly for private matters, and the official affairs are just a cover and incidental handling. Therefore, the battle should not be too big. Today, there are no remnants of the Sui Dynasty in Haiyan and Heqing in the Guanzhong area.

There were no bandits in the army, so there was no need to bring the new army. In addition to bringing along two subordinate officers, Li Zhiyun also selected a hundred guards in the Marriage Palace and Zhang Nei Palace of the Chu Palace to form a guard of honor and bodyguards.

Liu Hong took ten guards with him and drove a carriage. Liu Yinglian took her personal maid and rode in her father's carriage. The two groups met at Yanping Gate and left Chang'an City together, meandering all the way to the northwest.

The team marched along the official road. Li Zhiyun and the guards were all riding horses. Behind the team were several carriages. These carriages were not for people, but for pulling things.

The road to Pizhou is long. Although there are inns along the way, the distance between the two inns is not close. The inns are mainly used for accommodation and food for couriers and officials who go out on business. Most of these couriers and officials are one person and one horse, or two at most.

Three people traveled together. They rode horses for a day, stayed overnight at the post station, and changed horses the next day. Therefore, the distance between the two post stations was set according to a day's journey of a fast horse. And Li Zhiyun and the others had a

There are more than a hundred people, and the inn does not have that many horses for them to change. If they ride horses all day long, then in a few days, all the horses will be exhausted, and they will have no leg power. So, they

You can only ride a horse half a day and lead the horse half a day. In this way, the speed of the team's progress is greatly reduced, and it often gets dark in the middle of the journey. Therefore, you must camp in the wild, and the carriage is loaded with materials for camping in the wild.

tents, cooking utensils and food.

The team marched for a day, and the sun was setting in the west. Li Zhiyun saw a small river in front of him on the right. The terrain beside the river was flat and suitable for camping, so he asked someone to inform Liu Hong, who was sitting in the carriage in front.

The team stopped and set up camp on a piece of flat land. The followers were busy setting up tents and burying pots to make rice. Others led the horses to the river to let them eat grass and drink water. Liu's nursing home will also be set up

The horses were unhooked from the carriage and led to the river bank.

After dinner, Li Zhiyun saw Liu Yinglian going to the tent, so he called her to stop and said: "It's not dark yet, it's too early to go to bed now, let's go for a walk by the river?" Liu Yinglian thought for a while and nodded.

The two people walked towards the river along a path overgrown with weeds, and the maid followed behind, six or seven steps away from them. Li Zhiyun looked back and saw that the maid was wearing a double bun that represented Yunying's unmarried status.

.When he first met Liu Yinglian in the backyard of Guitang Villa, Liu Yinglian was letting her carry a kite hanging on a branch with a bamboo pole. Later, the three of them went to Pingchang Town together.

Seeing the maid walking alone, Li Zhiyun regretted not bringing Aunt Ying, otherwise, they could be companions. This time, if he hadn't traveled with Liu Yinglian, he would have brought Aunt Ying. The reason why he didn't bring her

, It’s not that he’s afraid that Liu Yinglian will be careless, but he doesn’t want her to see that he takes a maid with him wherever he goes, as if he’s like a child who hasn’t grown up. How shameless is that? He wants Liu Yinglian to feel,

He is a brave man who ventures into the world.

Liu Yinglian probably also noticed the little girl's loneliness, so she stopped, turned around and said to her: "Tui'er, the prince and I just went for a walk by the river. You can go back." The girl hesitated and said: "

Then, miss, you have to go back early, otherwise the master will be anxious."

"knew."

After the maid returned, the two of them continued walking forward, and after a while, they arrived at the river. This river was probably a tributary of the Weishui River. The river surface was not too wide, about seven or eight feet long. The river surface was very calm and the water could not be seen.

flow.

Across the river is an endless stretch of fields, with crisscrossing roads and thousands of miles of fertile fields. Occasionally, one or two farmers and cattle are still working hard in the fields. The Qingming Festival has passed, and the days have become longer. At this moment, the last ray of sunset is still burning on the horizon.

, brilliant and gorgeous, like a rich oil painting.

"The scenery is so beautiful!" Li Zhiyun couldn't help but sigh.

However, what is more beautiful than the sunset is the woman beside her. Her black hair is only held up by a jacquard wooden hairpin with white bell tassels. Her face is like peach blossoms, her eyes are like clear springs, and her strong nose is like greasy jade. Her appearance is extremely beautiful.

Li Zhiyun was so intoxicated by her charming appearance that he couldn't help but kiss her on the cheek.

Liu Yinglian was startled, touched her cheek with her hand, glanced around, and then said angrily: "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, just a kiss."

Liu Yinglian frowned and said: "When I return to the tent later, I have to get a knife and dig out this piece of flesh on my face."

"Why?" Li Zhiyun asked puzzledly.

"Have you not seen what is written in the biographies of women? There was a woman who lost her husband. One day she was washing clothes by the river. She rolled up one of her sleeves and exposed a section of her arm. By chance, she was seen by a man passing by. She replied

When I got home, I chopped off the arm with a machete. If she was kissed by a man like me, why not just dive into the water and drown?"

"Don't, don't," Li Zhiyun said with a smile, "Don't dig out the flesh on your face. What if it doesn't grow back? If it does grow back, it will leave a big scar. If I see it at night, why don't you remove it?"

Am I scared to death? Besides, I don’t want you to be a martyr, I just want you to be a queen and give me a lot of little princes in the future.”

"You're not serious again. Forget it, I won't tell you anymore. I'm going back." Liu Yinglian got really angry and turned around to leave.

Li Zhiyun quickly stopped her and said, "Okay, okay, let's not talk anymore. Let's talk about something else. What should we say?" He thought for a while and said, "Let me tell you about a scholar who once went crazy." So.

, he told the story of Xu Zisheng. Liu Yinglian listened and praised: "He is really a loving and righteous man. It would be great if all men in the world were like him."

"He is indeed a good person. Thanks to him, we eradicated Lu Chongmao, conquered Xia County, and rescued my cousin and the others from prison..."

After the team camped in the wilderness for a night, they continued to move forward the next day. After a tiring day of travel, they arrived at Yunyang County in the evening. The team entered the city from the south gate. Although it was not as grand as the emperor's patrol, it was so powerful that the ground shook.

, but there were also bright clothes and angry horses, ceremonial guards and signs, gongs beating to clear the way, and the people on the street stopped to watch and point.

There is an inn for the King of Chu in the county, but Li Zhiyun went on a tour under the pretext of testing officials' political performance. As long as he was within the boundaries of Yongzhou, he could live in the inn in a grand manner.

.

After staying at the post station for one night, the county magistrate led the county magistrate and the county lieutenant to pay him a visit. Then he respectfully invited him to the county government office and gave him a report in person. Li Zhiyun pretended to ask some questions.

Question, I spent another hour looking at all the places I needed to look at.

In the afternoon, Li Zhiyun and Liu Hong went to the inn and wine shop to inspect the operating conditions and check the accounts. When they came out of the King of Chu Winery, the sun was already setting. They walked side by side towards the inn in order not to disturb their conversation.

, the guards and guardians who followed them kept some distance away from them.

Liu Hong had long wanted to talk to Li Zhiyun about his daughter's marriage. His daughter was already eighteen years old and had already reached the age to leave the court. However, because the officials in Chang'an City all knew that their daughter had been favored by the King of Chu, no one dared to come to propose marriage.

Of course, Liu Hong also wished that his daughter could marry into the Prince of Chu's palace. His two concubines were pretty good at it, and one of them gave birth to a fat boy for him, which finally kept him from losing his incest. If he could marry the royal family, then he

The bright future of the two precious sons is guaranteed.

Because of concerns about Li Zhiyun's age and the frequent wars, Li Zhiyun went to the front line for half a year. Liu Hong never urged the marriage. However, a girl's youth passed in a flash, so her daughter must get married next year at the latest.

Liu Hong is not too worried about this, because Li Zhiyun will be seventeen next year. It is the right time for a man to marry and start a family at seventeen. The only thing he is worried about is that Li Yuan will not agree.

Because of the "name should prophesy" incident, Liu Hong severely offended the current emperor. Although Li Zhiyun is the king of Chu, marriage is a major event that requires the orders of his parents and the advice of a matchmaker. How could he, a child, do it?
Chapter completed!