Wishful Things

Two days passed in a blink of an eye, and under the watchful eyes of Xiao Qi and the others, the Xiang Palace did not make any other moves.

On this day, early in the morning, in Linyun City, south of the capital, in the backyard of an inconspicuous rice shop at the corner of the street, a white pigeon flew in and landed on the stone table in the courtyard.

"Daddy, there are pigeons flying back!"

A five or six-year-old child ran to the front hall and talked to the middle-aged man who looked like the shopkeeper.

At this time, there was no guest in the shop, the man immediately raised the curtain and went into the backyard when he heard this, he saw a pigeon standing on the stone table.

He walked over quickly, but couldn't help frowning.

The pigeon cooed twice, as if urging.

The man picked up the pigeon and checked it carefully, but there was still no postbox.

But the pigeon flew out of his hands as if it had finished the process, and got into the pigeon coop on the side to bury its head in eating.

"..." The man's cheeks twitched.

The letters are all lost, and there is still face to eat!

This journey, it is afraid that it has run away lonely!

No, in order to avoid the trouble caused by the secret letter falling into the hands of others, he still needs to write to inform the prince immediately...

The man thought, turned and went to the study.

...

At the same moment, Xu Mingyi happened to be thinking about this in the Duke's Mansion in Jingcheng Town.

Two days have passed, but there is still no new discovery in the letter from King Xiang.

In other words, there was no so-called strangeness at all, it was she who believed that the King of Xiang was collaborating with the enemy, and therefore subconsciously concluded that there was something wrong with that letter—in fact, it might indeed be just an ordinary letter from home.

But in this way, the clue is equivalent to being broken.

On the surface, King Xiang seems to have no brains, but he is extremely cautious, as can be seen from the frequency of patrols by the soldiers in his mansion.

For this reason, she and Wu Chao had guessed yesterday that the reason why the Xiangwang Mansion was so heavily guarded was because there might be evidence of the Xiangwang collaborating with the enemy?

But even if the answer is in the affirmative, under such circumstances, they can't just break in and look for it. It would be too risky not to talk aimlessly...

Then there is Xiaoqi, no, the secret letter intercepted by Tianmu——

The letter was sent to Dianzhou, and Dianzhou was far away from the capital, so it was obviously not safe to rely on a carrier pigeon alone—Wu Chao said that in this case, the letter should most likely be carried out of the capital by the carrier pigeon, and then sent back to Dianzhou by the people of King Xiang himself.

If the people of the King of Xiang did not receive the agreed letter, it would be a good thing to say that after a long time, they would definitely send a letter to the King of Xiang to inquire about the situation.

At that time, the king of Xiang will inevitably become more vigilant, and it will be even more difficult to obtain evidence.

Thinking of this, Xu Mingyi couldn't help but raise his brows slightly.

At this moment, a cry from the Celestial Eye suddenly came into her ears.

Xu Mingyi looked up, and saw the big bird jumping down from the chair, screaming and shaking his head.

Seeing that Big Bird seemed to be stimulated by something, Xu Mingyi couldn't help asking: "What's the matter?"

Ah Kui, who was standing by the table and was tinkering with tea, pointed to the things at hand: "...just now, the maid didn't see it for a while, and asked Tianmu to taste this."

Xu Mingyi looked in the direction of her finger, and saw a plate of thinly sliced ​​lemon fruit.

Seeing this thing, Xu Mingyi felt soreness in the roots of his teeth.

Seeing Da Niao shaking her head and mumbling like she was cursing, she understood.

This lemon fruit is unusually sour, and it was not meant to be eaten directly. The silly bird wanted to taste everything it saw, so this time it was kicked on the iron plate.

but--

"Where did this fruit come from?" Xu Mingyi asked.

Lemon fruit is not common in Beijing, and it is not the season for this fruit to ripen. She did not remember that there was a stockpile of this fruit in the ice cellar in the mansion last year.

"It was given to the palace before the Empress Dowager's birthday." Akui said, "I heard that His Royal Highness King Xiang brought it from Dianzhou, and presented it to the palace along with other specialties. The princes and envoys who came from afar have presented a lot of new gadgets. Our family has also got a lot. A few days ago, the girl went out with Princess Yufeng and was not at home. The lady asked someone to keep it for the girl."

Xu Mingyi didn't listen to most of the words that followed.

"Is this lemon fruit brought by King Xiang?" Her attention was all on this sentence.

Seeing that Ah Kui nodded affirmatively, Xu Mingyi got up and went to the table, and picked up a whole lemon fruit.

The peel is yellowish-green, the size is not too big, and the appearance is not smooth...

She had read in medical books that the lemon fruit had only been introduced from foreign countries in the previous dynasty, and the time was short, so not many people knew about it, and when it came to planting, the climate in Dianzhou was not suitable for its growth—this point, she could roughly know from the appearance of the product in her hand.

So, why did the king of Xiang bring this thing to the capital as a special product of Dianzhou?

And it can be distributed to their town government, so it is expected that there are quite a lot of them. It is very laborious to store this unseasonable item on the road alone.

If it is for showing off, this appearance is really nothing to show off. After all, it is not other places in the palace.

Holding the fruit, Xu Mingyi leaned close to her and sniffed it lightly. The fresh and fruity fragrance wafted into her nostrils—even though she knew that she seemed too suspicious to look at it, she still couldn't help thinking about it.

At this time, Ah Zhu came in from the outside.

"Miss." Ah Zhu saluted and said, "Miss Cai came to bid farewell to Miss."

Xu Mingyi nodded and said, "Please come in."

Today is the day Cai Jin leaves for Yunyao Academy——

When Cai Jin walked in, he had a smile on his face. He was wearing a ginger-yellow loose shirt, and his hair was neatly combed in a simple bun. He only used a pair of plain silver plum blossom hairpins on it.

Although this dress was too plain, it actually made Xu Mingyi feel bright in front of his eyes, especially the gleam in his brows and eyes.

She couldn't help but think of the situation when she first met Cai Jin. At that time, the other uncle tried every means to get close to her second uncle. He looked gentle and caring, flattering, but restrained as if wearing clothes that didn't fit.

The Cai Jin in front of her at this moment is completely different from that at that time.

And one can't help but feel that this seems to be what she should have looked like.

Therefore, only when people live in the world and place themselves in the right position can they be at ease.

"Before we left, I specially made some snacks to bid farewell to the girl." Cai Jin smiled and handed the food box in his hand to Ah Kui.

Ah Kui took it over, thinking: Miss Cai doesn't have to be so polite...

"I also prepared some things for Miss Cai." While speaking, Xu Mingyi motioned for Ah Kui to fetch them.

Not long after, Ah Kui brought a heavy box to Cai Jin.

Cai Jin hesitated for a while: "Miss Xu has helped me too much in bothering your mansion these days. If it is something valuable, Cai Jin really can't take it anymore."

"It's not considered valuable, but it's just some ordinary pen and ink. Miss Cai is going to Yunyao Academy to take up the post of teacher on this trip, and she will send some things from the study room to match it."

Hearing what the girl said, Cai Jin just accepted it with confidence: "That's why I would like to thank you for the gift."

She will definitely keep it safe.

"I'm going to Yunyao Academy now, I hope Miss Cai is at ease."

Hearing these words, Cai Jin held the box and bowed to the girl, saying: "May the girl be happy and healthy, and everything goes well."

Xu Mingyi nodded, with a faint smile in his eyes: "Then let Miss Cai give me a good word."

Cai Jin wanted to say goodbye at this point, but when he straightened up, he gently sniffed the fruity fragrance in the room, and asked involuntarily, "This seems to be... the fragrance of lemon fruit?"

"Well, it was rewarded in the womb a few days ago." Xu Mingyi said, and ordered Akui: "Bring some to Miss Cai to the academy."

Cai Jin hurriedly smiled and said: "No need, I just smelled the aroma that I smelled when I was young, so I asked one more question - when I was young with my grandfather in the south of the Yangtze River, my family got two seedlings from somewhere, and planted them in the backyard garden. After planting like this for several years, when the fruit came out, our sisters used it to write and send letters for fun. I still remember these interesting things."

"Writing?" Xu Mingyi half felt the novelty, half was aroused to guess: "Can this fruit be used for writing?"

This is not something that can be used as a dye like impatiens, how can it be written?

Could it be the peel?

"It is to squeeze out the juice from this fruit, filter it clean, and dip it in a pen to use it as ink."

Isn't it the peel?

Xu Mingyi became more and more puzzled when he heard this: "Is this really able to write?"

Even if it is written on it, I think it will only leave some wet marks. After the air dries, will there be anything left?

Cai Jin took the tone of talking about interesting things: "It's interesting here. After drying, you can't see anything, but if you put the paper on a smoker and bake it, the writing on it will show up and last for a long time."

Xu Mingyi's mind seemed to stir up waves in an instant, and he murmured, "Is this really the case..."

"I don't know how many times I have used this method." Cai Jin said with a smile: "I forgot which elder sister was the first to figure it out. I just remember that I often used it to draw pictures and write letters with each other."

Xu Mingyi clenched his fingers slightly.

King Xiang, the letter paper with too much blank space, the lemon fruit specially brought from Dianzhou...

She probably understood what was going on!

Wu Chao and the prince even thought of alum before, and the letter paper written with the prepared alum water will reveal the words after soaking in water... But this method is not very hidden, and many people know it.

Lemon fruit is different.

Most people don't even know what a lemon fruit is, so how would they think that lemon fruit can also be used to write hidden characters, and the characters will appear after being roasted in a smoked cage?

Xu Mingyi stood up abruptly, and said, "Thank you Miss Cai for clearing my confusion. I have urgent matters to go out now, so I won't see Miss Cai off. I'll go to Yunyao Academy to talk to Miss Cai in the future—"

Cai Jin was slightly stunned, then nodded again and said, "Okay, then I'll wait for the girl to go and sit around when she's free."

Seeing Xu Mingyi walking out in a hurry, Tianmu hurriedly staggered to keep up - walking in such a hurry, isn't it justified to go to eat something delicious?

Ah Kui handed the lemon fruit she picked up to Cai Jin, and quickly said: "Miss Cai, I have to go out with my girl, and I won't see you off."

As he spoke, he called a second-class maid to come in.

Seeing that the master, servant and bird disappeared soon, Cai Jin stood up holding the box and a few lemon fruits, shook his head helplessly, but his eyes were full of smiles.

She walked out of the front hall step by step, out of Xiyuan, and looked around slowly.

Zhen Guogong Mansion is really a good place.

Because there is a group of lovely and lively people like Ms. Xu and Mr. Xu.

However, now she is about to start a new life of her own.

Under the sunshine in the early morning of summer, Cai Jin raised his chin slightly, with a faint fruity fragrance lingering around him, raised his lips and walked forward with a smile.

...

Xu Mingyi changed into a man's attire in the carriage, and brought Akui, who was dressed as a servant, to the Pingqing Pavilion on Guangning Street.

At such a time, the Pingqing hall was beginning to be lively, and five or six literati were sitting at two tables and drinking tea in the hall.

The man saw her, and led her to the elegant room in the backyard with ease - what did he say? Xuesheng Tea House had better not give them a chance to show off!

These few times, the girl and her grandson met at their place.

For Xu Mingyi, this is of course not without reasons——

If it was just her and Wu Chao, the first choice would be the Xuesheng Teahouse, but since King Yan was there in the last few meetings——Yan Wang was different from them, and his every move was watched by others.

King Yan and Wu Chao arrived one after the other.

The difference is that the former is through the main entrance, while the latter is through the back wall.

Wu Chao has mixed feelings about the recent behavior of overturning his own wall repeatedly.

"Did you bring the letter?" Xu Mingyi asked Wu Chao in the elegant room.

Wu Chao nodded, and took out the bamboo tube in his sleeve.

Zhao Zhao suddenly said that he wanted to see him, and he roughly expected that it might have something to do with the letter.

King Yan glanced at the stove under his feet and the smoke cage on it - ice basins have been used in other places, why is there still a stove next to his daughter-in-law?

Before she had time to think deeply, she saw the girl unfold and smooth the letter paper, put it on the smoker cage, and took the tea lid on the table to press the two ends.

King Yan was a little puzzled for a while, but he didn't rush to ask, let alone stop anything, just drank tea quietly.

A daughter-in-law naturally has a daughter-in-law's reason for doing things, so he just waits and sees.

Wu Chao also had roughly the same idea, and only said, "Just tell me what you want to do, and keep away from it, so as not to suffer from heatstroke again."

On the contrary, Xu Mingyi felt a little strange - weren't they all curious?

While pressing the paper lightly with her fingers, she said, "I heard people say today that writing with juice squeezed from lemon fruit has a similar effect to alum water—"

As he spoke, his eyes lit up slightly, and he said in a low voice, "Look quickly."

Wu Chao looked over and saw that the original blank space on the letter paper began to faintly show words. At first, it was only light yellow, and as the letter paper was continuously baked, the handwriting gradually turned into a clearly visible brown...!

Seeing that it was almost done, Xu Mingyi picked up the scorched letter paper and handed it to King Yan.

King Yan took it with a straight face, and after reading carefully what was written on it, his expression gradually changed: "As expected...!"

It's not that he is careless!

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Today is two chapters in one, good night.