And just when Fang Yu and others had just arrived in Kyoto.
Within the capital.
A mansion with three entrances is located on the street beside the outer wall of the palace, just one street away from the palace.
The residences that can be located outside the walls of the imperial palace are basically the relatives of the emperor or the chief ministers and assistants of various prime ministers, and their status is extraordinary.
As for the Sankai Mansion, non-first-grade officials could not move in. It can be imagined that the standards of this courtyard are very high.
Outside this mansion, there are officers and soldiers guarding every ten steps below the city wall, and all of these soldiers are wearing armor with sabers on their waists, tasseled helmets on their heads, solemn eyes, and an iron-blooded aura. They are obviously all
A group of elite soldiers.
Entering this mansion is like stepping into a new world.
I saw that the entire mansion was divided into two parts, the left and right parts.
There are basically various types of houses on the left, and the main gate faces this row.
On the right side is an irregular garden pavilion surrounded by city walls. There are rockeries, fish ponds, arch bridges, green willows and red flowers in the courtyard.
On the right side, after entering the door, is the front yard. The left and right sides of the front yard are empty, but there is a more magnificent hanging flower door in front.
Walk into the hanging flower door and enter the inner courtyard.
In the inner courtyard, in the middle is a main room covering an area of about a hundred square meters, with side rooms on both sides of the main room.
The main house is divided into two floors. The lower floor is the living room and the upper floor is the main bedroom. The terrain and floors of the entire main house are the highest. Therefore, in the bedroom on the second floor, as long as the window is opened, the entire courtyard is basically visible.
If you close your eyes and look around a little, you can see the green garden on the right.
The backyard is a collection of wing rooms and warehouses, with maids and servants walking in and out of the wing rooms. It is obviously a place for these servants to live.
In addition to the iron soldiers guarding the outside of the mansion, there are also soldiers controlling the inside of the mansion.
These soldiers were scattered in the corridors of the front and back yards, and there were even small teams patrolling the hall of the main house, which was heavily guarded.
However, the armor and swords worn by these soldiers are different from those of the soldiers outside.
Although the armor material and overall layout are almost the same, the patterns and patterns on the armor are completely different.
The soldiers outside the door have a circular-shaped forehead rim with a cluster of red tassels on it, while the soldiers inside have an animal mouth-shaped helmet on the forehead, making them look more fierce.
On the right side of the main room in the inner courtyard, there is a master bedroom covering an area of nearly 20 square meters. A girl with bright eyes, white teeth, and a figure as graceful as an elf is dragging a chair and leaning against the window.
, looking at the scenery of the garden below outside the window, waving his arms in boredom.
The girl is wearing an exquisite Luo Shang, a jade pendant on her waist, and a flying phoenix on her head. Under the accessories, she has a childish face that is obviously no more than 28 years old.
Her face shape is a standard oval shape, with a pair of willow eyebrows and clever eyes; the tip of her nose is straight, and her lips are smeared with a hint of cherry red.
Her skin is as white as snow, and she wears a delicate silver wrist chain on her wrist by the window. There is also a lead on the wrist chain that is put on the ring of the girl's index finger, making her look even more beautiful. At this time, the girl is leaning against the window.
, looking at the garden scenery, at a glance, it looks like a beautiful picture.
"Oh...when will this kind of life end..."
This was originally a quiet and beautiful picture. After the girl opened her mouth, her delicate tone made this beautiful picture even more vivid.
After the girl lamented, she continued to talk to the window with a depressed look on her face.
"This Emperor of Chu will die sooner or later. This princess has finally entered the city and hasn't started playing yet. He will die now!"
"It's better now. I thought I could still have fun, but once he dies, we are all just like being put in solitary confinement. We can only stay in this shabby yard. This princess is almost suffocated to death!"
An equally pretty maid who was standing quietly next to her couldn't help but look bitter when she heard her princess commenting so carelessly on the death of Emperor Chu. She was too frightened to make any sound.
This is in Chu State!
If her words were heard by the soldiers outside, wouldn't there be a huge commotion?!
Fortunately, the people in the yard are all our own people now, so what the girl said doesn't mean anything.
It's just destined that only she dares to say this.
The round-faced maid behind him wished she had no ears, so how could she dare to talk to her.
After the girl spoke, she obviously wanted to wait for a reply, but when she turned around, she looked at the bitter look on her maid's face and couldn't help but curl her lips and wrinkle her nose.
"I knew this would happen, it's so boring! Oh, why don't you let us go back to China! I want to go back! It's not fun here at all!"
"Xiao Yuanyuan, has General Ling responded? When can we return to Kang Country?"
After hearing the question from his princess, the round-faced girl named Xiao Yuanyuan said with a bitter look.
"Princess, General Ling said that the new power of the Chu Kingdom is now in a period of turmoil. At this time, it is safer for us to stay in the Chu Kingdom. We must wait at least one month after the funeral and wait for the situation to stabilize.
Decision"
"Furthermore, I heard from General Ling that His Majesty also decided this way, so..."
Hearing Yuanyuan's words, Chen Xue couldn't help but wailed, and said with a face full of grief and anger.
"One month! One more month?! How do you want me to survive this month!"
Yes, the girl in front of me is none other than the sixth princess of Kang State—Chen Xue.
As early as a few months ago, the State of Kang sent envoys to the State of Chu to exchange information about the visit of the Sixth Princess of Kang State to Chu and to wish the Emperor of Chu New Year.
The Emperor of Chu at that time was very happy because of Kang Guo's move.
After all, this is something that will greatly enhance the country's prestige.
Therefore, before they set out, the Emperor of Chu had already decided on a residence for them to stay in Chu State, and even asked the Ministry of Rites to hold a grand welcome ceremony.
After receiving the reply, Kang State asked the Sixth Princess of Kang State and his hussar general Ling Tao to go to the Kyoto of Chu State to congratulate the Emperor of Chu a month ago with New Year gifts.
As a result, they did not expect that as soon as they arrived in the capital, they heard that Emperor Chu was critically ill, and within two days, Emperor Chu passed away.
I originally came here to celebrate the New Year, but within a few days of arriving, the people celebrating the New Year stopped.
Even Ling Tao felt a little confused.
When they came here this time, in addition to celebrating the New Year, they naturally had other tasks. One of them was to get a closer look at the current situation of Chu State, and the other was to observe whether the God of War from Prince Chang's Mansion would show up when the Emperor of Chu was celebrating the New Year.
The reason why the Kang Guoguo raised the New Year's greetings was precisely because they discovered that the person from Prince Chang's Mansion seemed to have not shown up for a long time.
In order to confirm whether he is still here, I took this New Year trip.
No one expected that Emperor Chu would die before Tan Yuanchang could see him!
Ling Tao liked what he heard and found that this was a good opportunity to observe the true strength of Chu State. So, after communicating with the emperor of Kang State, he decided to stay and continue to observe in order to obtain more information.
Although Chen Xue was aware of these, she didn't take them too seriously, so she didn't think much about them.
After all, she is a princess.
As long as she could remember, she knew that although she was born rich, she had no freedom.
As the princess of Kang State, her future has already been determined.
After she comes of age, it won't take long for Emperor Kang to marry her to a person who is beneficial to Kang State under various names.
She is a bargaining chip, a trading item.
Just like this New Year's trip, she also understood what her father meant.
No matter what happened to this temptation, after he returned, Emperor Kang would marry her to a certain prince of Chu State as a marriage between the two countries.
Emperor Chu also understood this.
Asking her to come over this time was actually a bit of a blind date. As long as she and a certain prince from Chu State met their eyes on this New Year's Eve and talked about it, her future would be basically decided.
She understood that this choice was the last bit of freedom her father gave her.
Oh, what a ridiculous freedom.
Chen Xue chuckled, and then a reluctant but helpless smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.
As the princess of Kang State, if she enjoys the corresponding rights, she must also bear the corresponding obligations. This is something she should understand as the daughter of the royal family.
Although the Emperor of Chu passed away this time, the crown prince of Chu State was determined after all. This turmoil seemed to be huge, but in fact it only affected the internal situation, but did not change the external situation.
After all, for Kang State, what they feared was not the emperor of Chu State, but a certain person.
No matter how the emperor of Chu is changed, it is the same for them.
Therefore, their plans will not change much.
This also means that Chen Xue's last free time has not changed. After this New Year's trip, she will return to Chu Kingdom again soon. However, after that time, she will be the Princess of Chu.
Entered the Chu State in name.
Chen Xue sighed again.
In her heart, Chu State is an invisible cage, and she is a bird whose feet are tied. This cage is her final destination.
No...
It seems that I am already in a cage.
Chen Xue looked at her maid, and then at the soldiers coming and going downstairs. These people looked like guards, but weren't they a form of imprisonment?
Suddenly, an idea suddenly appeared in Chen Xue's mind.
If... I break free of that rope right here and escape from this prison, will I be free?
Chen Xue knew that this idea was actually very naive.
She even understood that she would not be able to escape in the end.
But she finally decided to do it.
Because she really couldn't bear it anymore.
If everything went normally during her visit to Chu State, she might not have had this idea.
In fact, she has almost accepted all this. This time she came here because she wanted to have fun one last time and enjoy the last freedom. Then when she returned to Kang State, she could directly talk to her father about a prince she liked, and finally just
Getting married is the last stage of life.
But this time she came here, the Emperor of Chu was mourning, and she was directly imprisoned in the city.
I can't get out, and I can't play.
After the ban on rituals and music in the entire Yongding City, people on the street could not help but walk quietly, making Chen Xue who stayed in the mansion feel that the entire Yongding City was like a ghost town.
As a result, she felt that even her breathing was a little easier.
The more he thought about it, the stronger the idea in Chen Xue's mind became.
And the corner of her mouth couldn't help but reveal a truly happy smile.
Half an hour later......
An old man with a dark complexion slowly walked out from the back door of the palace, dragging a flatbed truck.
Behind the flatbed truck, there were four large tanks.
There was a wooden lid covering the top of the tank. When the flatbed truck was pulled out, a disgusting sour smell spread directly to the surrounding area, making the two soldiers guarding the small door frown.
After the rough man pulled out the flatbed truck, he very wisely parked the flatbed truck far away. Then he stopped and walked aside to wait for the guards' routine inspection.
The two guards looked at me, and I looked at you. Finally, one of the soldiers stepped forward with a look of unhappiness and reluctance, and used the end of the scabbard to lift the wooden cover to the side.
As soon as it was lifted, a very disgusting smell came out of the cylinder.
I saw that the jar was filled with swill!
The swill has gone rancid a long time ago, and when the lid is on, the smell brews, which is even more wonderful.
The guard was so overwhelmed by the smell that his face turned green!
But even so, he still faithfully opened the four jars one by one.
Three jars were filled with swill, and when one of the jars was opened, he saw rotten cabbage heads and rotten radishes piled all over the mouth of the jar.
After the guard confirmed, he quickly pushed back and waved at the swarthy old man.
The old man smiled at the two guards who bent over honestly, then came to the front of the cart, stretched out his hand to pull up the cart, and continued to move forward.
This old man recycles swill and kitchen waste.
Although he seems to be bitter, in fact, as a person who can come to the palace to collect swill, his status is already higher than that of ordinary people in Kyoto.
In addition, most people have no idea how huge the profit is from his swill recycling.
He usually wears simple or even shabby clothes in order to prevent others from discovering the profit in it.
After recycling these swill, whether it is used as fertilizer or sold to slums as some food that can barely be eaten, you can make a lot of money.
Although he cannot take the money alone, even if he can only take part of it, this old man has already settled a private house in the capital with his own efforts.
When he was collecting swill, he was an old man with a foul odor all over his body.
But once you get home and take a shower, who would have thought that such an old man has already married a wife in Yongding, has three children, can eat hot dishes every day, and can even go to Goulan to listen to music from time to time?
The old man pulling the cart in front completely ignored the disgusted passersby next to him and lowered his head. Others just thought he was working hard. In fact, he was humming a little tune at this time and thinking about going to the spring in a few days.
Full building.
Thinking of Xiaoyue'er's skillful hands in Chunmanlou, the old man felt hot all over, and the pace of pulling the cart could not help but become faster.
Therefore, he did not notice at all that a head suddenly poked out of the jar filled with rotten vegetable leaves on the cart behind him!
This head held up the wooden lid and carefully looked outside through the gap.
The old man pulled the cart to an alley, which led to his usual fertilization place. Almost no one would go to that place. Therefore, except for him, almost no one would go here in this alley.
When the little head in the tank noticed that there was no one in the alley, his eyes lit up, and he stood up from the tank with the vegetable leaves on his head.
This is clearly a woman with a round head!
I saw that she was wearing a maid's clothes and was dirty. Only her eyes were clean. At this time, her eyes were looking around cautiously, like a thief.
When she stood up, she was careful not to make any sound at all.
Then he just lifted his legs and easily rolled out of the tank without attracting the old man's attention.
There were still two pieces of cloth stuffed in her nose, rotten vegetable leaves hanging on her face, and her body exuded a strong stench. But despite this, she still carefully closed the lid with flexible hands and feet, and then stepped up.
, jumped down from the trolley quietly.
Judging from her skills, she must have some skills. Therefore, after the whole process, the old man who was immersed in pulling the cart didn't even notice that a person came out of the tank behind him!
After she came down, she huddled in the corner of the alley and waited quietly for the old man to leave before carefully walking out of the alley with her head lowered.
After walking out of the alley, she looked up at the slightly gray sky. The pedestrians nearby avoided her, but she seemed to be unable to restrain herself from raising the corners of her mouth.
