Pihanjin

The sky is bright again. The morning sun shines through the window, and the glazed tile surface on the top of the Ziwei Palace shines with dazzling light under the rising sun.

Mu Fulan sat in front of the mirror. Aru accompanied her behind her, combing her long hair.

"Auntie, your hair is so beautiful, like the spring water of our Dongting Lake, smooth and shiny..."

While combing her hair, the girl complimented her sincerely.

Mu Fulan stared at herself in the mirror, her green temples and snowy face, in a trance, suddenly remembered another sixteen-year-old self ten years ago.

It was also such an early morning, when she had not been married for a year, her young and ambitious husband had left her on the wedding night, and he would not return for a long time. Just woke up from a nightmare.

It was that nightmare that changed everything for her.

At that time, she only wanted to leave the man who brought all bad luck to her. She wanted to go back to the country of Changsha where she was born and raised, and live her new life smoothly and smoothly. How could she have thought that ten years later, she would be in Zique and be respected as the Queen Mother.

Three months ago, the young emperor had been preparing for a long time, and he personally planned the southward battle to pacify the Qi court, and won a great victory. The small court that lingered in the south for a few years after the founding of the country ceased to exist, and Zhao Xitai committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea under the pursuit of troops. A few days ago, the army had triumphed, and the young emperor led a hundred civil and military officials to travel twenty miles and went out of the city to meet him.

The founding emperor of the Dacheng Dynasty, Xie Changgeng, was on a personal expedition. Unfortunately, his old injury relapsed abroad. Half a year later, he died young. Subsequently, the crown prince succeeded to the throne with the assistance of the empress of the country and several important officials. In the past two years, he is not only smart and good governance, but also his diligence is admirable. In addition to dealing with the political affairs every day, he will get up at five in the morning, just like when he was a child, practice swordsmanship, read books, rain or shine.

Today, the final decision was made, and it was unified. Because of the battle to conquer the South, the prestige of the young emperor increased greatly, and he was almost fourteen years old, enough to take charge of the government.

Just yesterday, the Empress Dowager stepped down from the role of supervising the country. Under the witness of hundreds of civil and military officials, she handed over the jade seal, which had been in charge of her until now, into the hands of the Young Emperor.

"Queen Mother, Your Majesty is coming down—"

Accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps, a message from the palace servants followed.

Aru's hand froze, her cheeks reddened quietly, she hurriedly put down her comb, and dodged away.

Mu Fulan looked at the back of Tingting, who was shyly avoiding her, with a smile in her eyes.

Everyone knows that the young emperor and the county master, Aru, are childhood sweethearts, and there is no guessing between them. Now that the young emperor is in charge, when the filial piety of the former emperor expires, the two of them will get married.

"Mother!"

A young man in a dragon robe ran into the hall. The young man hurried to her front, and with a thud, fell to his knees and knelt down.

"Mother, is this true? Are you really leaving?"

The young man looked at her with wide eyes, his expression full of surprise and surprise.

Mu Fulan ordered everyone around to leave.

"Yes. After a while, I will go back to Dongting," she said.

The teenager held Mu Fulan's sleeve tightly, "Well, why did my mother leave suddenly?"

"Xi'er, my mother has wanted to go back for a long time. I used to be unable to escape, but now that you are in charge of the government, I am very at ease with you."

"I should go back too."

The teenager stared at her blankly, and after a while, the fingers holding Mu Fulan's sleeves slowly loosened.

"Mother..." He said in a low voice, "Although my son hopes to see my mother sooner or later, if my mother doesn't want to be trapped here anymore and wants to go back to Dongting, my son will never stop her."

He said, his eyes slowly turning red.

Mu Fulan smiled and said, "My mother grew up there since I was a child. Going back now is like a fish in water, so you don't have to worry about it. Besides, it's not that my mother will not return. When your big wedding day, my mother will come back in person."

"Mother!" The young man kowtowed to her and couldn't bear it for a long time.

Mu Fulan helped him up, stared at the face in front of him that was increasingly similar to that person, pondered, and said, "I'm going back, I want to go to you alone."

"Mother, tell me!" The boy nodded. "who is it?"

Mu Fulan said a name.

The young man was startled.

That man was the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard in Shangjing. He was usually taciturn and lacked a thumb on his left hand. It is said that when he followed the late emperor in his early years, he quit because he did not know what he had committed, but he was loyal and loyal because of his ability. In addition to performing the duties of commanding the Imperial Guard, he was also responsible for the training and teaching of the Imperial Army on weekdays.

"I have already asked him, and he voluntarily followed me back to Dongting."

Although she didn't know why her mother wanted to take this Zhu Liuhu away, but since she spoke up, how could the young man refuse, and immediately agreed: "My son knows, I will ask him to prepare today and go back with his mother."

Mu Fulan smiled: "I have nothing to do. You just took over the government, and you have a lot of things to do. You are busy, and you don't need to stay here."

The young man got up and left. Mu Fulan watched his back, and when he saw that he was about to step out of the hall, he suddenly stopped and turned back suddenly.

"Mother! Son..."

He started, but stopped abruptly.

"Xi'er, do you have anything else to do?" Mu Fulan asked when he saw that he seemed to have something to say.

"nothing…"

He hesitated, and finally shook his head slowly.

"My son wants to say that my mother will be happy in the future, and my son will ask for nothing in this life."

He turned around and knelt down solemnly towards Mu Fulan again, choking.

…

This year, the twenty-six-year-old young empress dowager of the Dacheng Dynasty, one was to restore her body, and the other was to avoid being criticized and suspected of repeating the role of Empress Liu in the previous dynasty. , At the end of spring, he quietly left Shangjing and returned to Dongting.

She went all the way south and returned to Yuecheng. After settling down, the first thing she did was to go to the ancestral temple to pay tribute to the ancestors of the Mu family and her parents, brothers and sisters that she had lost over the years.

After coming out of the ancestral temple, she took an ordinary carriage, passed through the bustling old market that she was familiar with, and went to the medicine house in Junshan. She came to the ferry, and after boarding the ship, she summoned Zhu Liuhu, who had been accompanying her as an escort, and said, "If you stay in Shangjing, you will have a bright future, and if you come here with me, the rest of your life will only be spent in mediocrity. You really won't regret it?"

"Even if you regret it at this moment, it doesn't matter. You tell me directly, you can go back as much as you can, and I will let His Majesty restore your official position."

Zhu Liuhu didn't even think about it, and knelt down slowly towards her.

"In those days, thanks to the kindness of the late emperor, Zhu Liuhu was lucky enough to survive in the world. He who has nothing to talk about, what virtue and ability, has the honor to make the empress dowager remember it so far, and Zhu Liuhu is grateful. It is my good fortune to be able to come here with the empress dowager, and I will never regret it!"

Mu Fulan smiled and nodded.

"She was originally a teaching maid in the palace. She was smart and alert. She was sent to you by me back then. She still doesn't know that your name is Zhu Liuhu, not Zhu Liu as you said to her, but I listen to me. Mu's mother said that she has never forgotten you. She has been waiting for you all these years. I saw you all these years, but I have never married, so I asked you a casual question before leaving Beijing. "

She turned her head and looked at the pier that was getting closer and closer in the middle of the lake ahead.

"She already knows you're here. You see, she's there."

Zhu Liuhu was shocked, he could hardly believe his ears.

He raised his head sharply.

At the end of the line of sight, the island in the heart of the lake, a blue wave rippling, vaguely, he saw a beautiful shadow standing on the shore, a woman looking into the wind, her dress fluttering.

As the boat got closer, his eyes widened, and he quickly recognized it.

The person on the shore is not the woman who still haunts him, but who is she?

Over the years, when the night was quiet, he had dreamed countless times, dreaming of the old man and his woman carrying a burden and walking through the streets of Yuecheng, but after waking up, he never dared to imagine that one day in this life , he can see her again.

He looked fixedly.

The ship gradually came to shore. The woman seemed to see him as well, and ran towards him, ran a few steps, but suddenly stopped, just stood there, staring at him.

This man, who was usually silent as a mountain, can't wait for the boat to stop at this moment. There was light in his eyes, and he gave Mu Fulan a heavy kowtow, then jumped up, waded down, and ran towards the woman on the bank who was staring at him, and her face was full of tears.

Mu's mother is getting old and her health is not very good. In the past few years, she has not entered the palace with Mu Fulan, and has been nursing her life in the medicine house.

She took the cat who came here from the palace two years ago, and stood aside, looking at the pair of people who met again after many years, her eyes couldn't help but turn red.

"Mother Mu, how did he know me, Hua Niang? What's his relationship with Hua Niang?"

"Ouch! What is he going to do!"

Amao watched in surprise at the man who was wading in the water, and when he landed on the shore, he tightly grasped the hand of Aunt Hua, and covered his eyes. Out of curiosity, he couldn't help but parted his fingers and watched secretly.

Mu's mother wiped her eyes, turned and walked up to her quickly, hugging the person in front of her who had been away for several years tightly into her arms, stroking her silky blue silk, trembling, and calling her lovingly. "Wengzhu", it seems that she is still the charming and innocent princess of Changsha in the past.

A "Wengzhu" sounded like a lifetime.

Mu Fulan closed her eyes and let Mu's mother hug her, resting her face in her arms, motionless.

After a long time, she opened her eyes, smiled and said softly, "Mother Mu, I'm back."