lady, please calm down

The next day, when Hutou woke up, still feeling dizzy, he found that the cat, who had been guarding beside him all night, had red eyes.

After not sleeping all night, his energy was inevitably low, so when Hu Tou looked at A Jie, the latter was still staring at her in a daze.

It's just that the look in her eyes seemed to have a hint of scrutiny, which was very strange.

Hu Tou's heart trembled, and he called out softly, "Sister."

The slightly dry and hoarse voice instantly awakened the cat's maternal instinct, and the strangeness in her eyes immediately turned into endless tenderness, "You're finally awake, are you hungry? Do you want sweet or salty porridge? Forget it, let's have lily and tremella porridge, which moisturizes the lungs and clears the mind."

After talking to himself for a while, he turned around and shouted outside the door.

Not long after, Hanlu brought the porridge herself. Mao'er took it, stirred it a few times with a spoon, blew on it gently, and then carefully handed it to Hutou's mouth.

Hu Tou obediently opened his mouth to receive the slightly sweet porridge and rice. He felt a sore nose for some reason and murmured, "Sister, yesterday I..."

"eat first."

The cat smiled gently and brought the spoon of porridge to Tiger's mouth again.

In this way, the two sisters fed each other until Hutou obediently finished the whole bowl of porridge and rice, and Maoer did not ask her why she suddenly appeared yesterday.

But the more this happened, the more Hu Tou felt that A Jie already knew a lot, but he had no way of verifying what exactly she knew.

Over the next two days, Cat came to visit every morning and evening, but there was always something a little uncomfortable about the atmosphere between the two sisters.

June fifteenth.

Sandra Ng, Zhou Zhiruo, Si Lan and others came to Qingzhu Pavilion to visit.

Facing the sisters' chattering questions, Hu Tou for the first time evaded the question by saying that he "followed the peddler who was looking at picture slides and unknowingly walked out of the city."

Upon learning that Hu Tou had recovered, several people couldn't help but excitedly discuss the upcoming trip to the south of the Yangtze River. On the 20th of this month, Huaibei will organize a large-scale group of people to go south.

In addition to various literary and artistic groups, there were also young and middle-aged officials from Huaibei and Huainan, such as Xu Bang, Ruan Xianfang, Cai Kun, and Peng Yuyan. Even Concubine Cai was going to Jiangnan with the immortal Miaoyi.

The literary and art circles wanted to comfort the soldiers and at the same time appease the people in the south of the Yangtze River after the unrest was initially settled.

Officials from the north and south of Huaibei were sent to fill the vacancies that could carry out Chen Chu's will.

Cai Huan wanted to emulate the Central Plains Farmland Reclamation established in Tokyo that year and replicate a Jiangnan Farmland Reclamation in the local area, promoting farmland reform in the name of business.

Miaoyi's mission was to rely on her blood relationship with the Zhou royal family to assist Cai Huan in handling royal property and settling clan members.

Accompanying them were hundreds of outstanding graduates from various new-style schools in Huaibei.

Nominally, this group of students was making a return visit in response to last year's trip to the north by the Huai Academy to promote academic exchanges between the two places.

In fact, it was because the officials transferred from the State of Chu were simply not enough to control the vast but geographically more fragmented Sixteen Routes of Jiangnan. They needed to become the capillaries of the new policy and serve as the first-line executors.

To put it bluntly, many students suddenly became officials.

Ever since the news came out, students in Huaibei have been immersed in excitement.

Although Sandra Ng and others had no ambition to do this, they could not help but be infected by the emotions of their classmates. At the same time, Peng Yuyan and Wu Yanzu already had experience as officials in Anfeng, Huainan, and they would definitely be more valued when they went south this time.

Since her lover had a bright future, she and Zhou Zhiruo were naturally happy too.

"Are you all going?" Hu Tou was obviously interested.

"Of course. Books say that reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. So of course I have to go for such a good opportunity. Xiangyi, aren't you going?"

"I"

Hu Tou naturally wanted to go, but if he had gone there before running out of the city on the evening of the tenth day, his sister would definitely agree, given her lenient way of disciplining him.

But after the tenth day, Hutou was not sure whether his sister would agree.

After all, my brother is in Lin'an. Although my elder sister has never said anything until now, Hu Tou always feels that my elder sister seems to have noticed something.

On June 18, after struggling for several days, Hu Tou finally decided to ask his elder sister in person to go to Jiangnan with his classmates.

Hanchun Hall, early afternoon, 3 p.m.

Cai Huan brought Ying'er here, firstly to say goodbye before departure, and secondly to discuss with Mao'er some possible problems that might be encountered.

Regarding this trip to Jiangnan, Mao'er knew the situation that Cai Huan would face, and made special arrangements: "Take Xiaoman with you. In the past, because of the Dingwei disaster in Qi, only one in ten noble families survived, and most of them fled to Jiangnan. Even so, in the eleventh year of Fuchang, the imperial concubine implemented land reform in Kaifeng Prefecture and caused the Xuande Gate Incident that shocked the world. The Jiangnan nobles have been operating for a hundred years, and their roots are intertwined, which is even more difficult to deal with. You must pay attention to safety."

Cai Hua took Mao'er's reminder very seriously. "I know that the two brothers Zhang San and Zhang Si will be traveling together on this trip. His Majesty has also made arrangements. When I arrive in Lin'an, he will let Tiedan Twelve Hours stay by my side."

Just as Cai Huan finished speaking, Ying'er and Ran'er ran in from outside, sweating profusely. The latter first raised her index finger to her lips and made a 'hush' gesture to the adults, then turned her big eyes and hid behind the curtain that hung to the ground.

Ying'er, who was over four years old, also seemed to want to hide there, but her sister got there first. She could not help but look around anxiously. Yunong, who was sitting on the other side, knew at a glance that the little girls were playing hide-and-seek. She waved to Ying'er, who was like a headless fly, and then pointed under her own chair.

Ying'er understood, giggled, and immediately ran over and hid under the chair. Yunong cooperated very well and pulled up the hem of her skirt to cover Ying'er tightly.

Sure enough, more than ten breaths later, Rao'er also ran over and looked inside the door. She saw the Queen, the Imperial Concubine, and her mother sitting inside and talking. She couldn't help but lean on the door frame and asked, "Mother, have you seen Ran'er and Ying'er?"

"Ah? I haven't seen it."

Yunong had a confused look on his face. He showed no mercy when it came to cheating his own daughter!

Rao'er was skeptical and walked around the house for a while. Just when she was about to find Ran'er, Mian'er rushed in again rashly. The two little ones looked at each other, and Mian'er screamed and turned around and ran away.

Rao'er quickly chased after him, shouting, "Mian'er, you lose! I saw you."

"It doesn't count, it only counts if you catch me."

Mian'er's shouting voice was heard far away in the house.

It was originally a serious conversation, but because of the children's noise, everyone couldn't help but smile.

Mao Er held his forehead with his hand and smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty has spoiled the children since you came back, and now they have all become naughty monkeys."

Cai Hua laughed and said, "If I stay at home for a few more days, I'll be annoyed by the noise of these little bastards. But once I've been away for a long time, I'll miss the noise."

After that, Cai Hua looked under Yunong's skirt and said, "Ying'er, I'm going to look for your father the day after tomorrow. Are you really not going?"

After a long while, a small hand came out from under the chair and lifted up the hem of Yunong's skirt. Ying'er, who had half of her face exposed, looked around first to make sure that her sister Rao'er, who was catching people, was not there, and then she whispered to her mother, "I'm not going. I want to play at home."

Yunong at the side also chimed in: "Sister Cai, since this trip is not safe, don't bring Ying'er with you! Leave her at home, I will help you look after her."

"You are six months pregnant and you are helping me take care of Ying'er. Take care of yourself first."

Just as Cai Huan finished speaking, Ying'er, who was hiding under the chair, said in a baby voice, "Ying'er can live with Sister Ran'er at the Queen's place."

"You just don't want to be with mom, right?"

Normally, four or five years old is the age when one should be inseparable from their mother, but Cai Huan had little luck with having children. Not only did she become pregnant very late, but Ying'er's birth almost cost her life.

Moreover, Ying'er was not that clingy to her, but liked to go to Yunong. Just like now, Yunong was not convenient and would rather live with Mao'er than go to Jiangnan with her mother.

"Children like to hang out together. Since Ying'er doesn't want to go, let him stay at home."

Mao Er smiled and comforted Cai Hua, who raised her eyebrows and scolded, "You are such a heartless little girl! Your mother loves you in vain."

As they were talking, Hanlu came with news that Tiger Head had arrived.

Cai Huan subconsciously glanced at the cat.

Speaking of which, everyone here is family, and they are the ones who watched Hu Tou grow up, so it should be very easy.

But when Hu Tou came in, he saw that several people were there, and he felt inexplicably nervous.

Seeing Hu Tou standing there stupidly, Yunong couldn't help but ask, "Xiang Yi, why are you standing there like an idiot? Come and sit down!"

"sit down."

The cat also said something with a smile, and then asked, "Are you feeling better now?"

"Well, it's all right, sister. I want to go to Jiangnan with my classmates."

Hu Tou was afraid that the courage he had finally mustered would fade away, so he spoke hurriedly.

But, he lowered his head involuntarily while speaking.

It seems that he doesn't have the courage to look his sister in the eye.

"It's good to see the world."

I thought it would be difficult, but Maoer agreed at the first sentence. Hutou looked up at Sister in surprise, then looked away in panic.

But then the cat said, "But you need to promise me one thing."

"Sister, please speak."

"When you go to Jiangnan, you can't ask for special treatment. You have to do whatever others do." This condition didn't sound difficult at all. Hu Tou said hurriedly, "Well, don't worry, sister. I will definitely do it."

"Well, go pack your luggage. This time when you go south, each student's luggage is not allowed to exceed 20 kilograms. Don't bring so much clutter. Just take the important things. Go."

"Ok!"

After Hu Tou left Hanchun Hall, Cai Hua was quite surprised and asked, "You really let her go?"

Mao'er looked at Ying'er who was leaning against Yunong and said, "She is not a child of six or seven years old anymore. If she wants to run away, she can always find a way. In this case, it is better to let her go to Jiangnan with you. If I try to stop her, she will be unhappy in the future and I am afraid she will secretly resent me."

"You!"

These two simple words contained a lot of meaning. Cai Hua also looked at her daughter and said, "Okay, if she doesn't want to be a family member, then treat her as a monarch and a subject."

The rear house is a court of women. When Ayu and Jiarou entered the mansion, they were more or less warned by Cai Huan, and from then on they no longer regarded Hutou as their sister.

Mao'er wanted to say something, but Yunong beside her asked curiously, "Sister Cai, are you talking about Hutou? What's wrong with her?"

Cai Hua rolled her eyes and said, "Why are you asking so many questions about my affairs?"

"." Yunong pouted her face instantly, and pulled Ying'er to whisper, "Ying'er doesn't stick to you, there must be a reason!"

"What do you mean?"

"Ah? Nunu said that Ying'er is so cute because of the good care she took by the Imperial Concubine."

Two days passed in a flash.

This time, there were thousands of people coming south from all walks of life, including their escorts.

According to etiquette, when the imperial concubine went out, she would need only a hundred maids to carry daily necessities such as golden whisks, golden incense burners, golden incense boxes, golden basins, golden bowls, large and small golden bottles, etc.

Not to mention the imperial umbrella, phoenix flag, carriage, phoenix sedan chair and other items.

Cai Huan liked luxury, but she knew that Chen Chu hated such things the most, so she repeatedly reduced the ceremonial procession, even changing the six-horse carriage to four, and she did not even bring the eight-man phoenix sedan chair and ceremonial sedan chair.

But even so, the imperial concubine's four-horse carriage was still the most comfortable place in the team.

On the morning of the 20th, all the troops gathered in the south of the city and prepared to set off.

Amid their mothers' nagging, Sandra Ng and Zhou Zhiruo each took a bag full of snacks.

Everyone's luggage had been collected together for transportation. They only carried a light bag with some spare clothes on their backs. After finally getting rid of their nagging mother, they both went to the group of male students next to the group of students.

After some acting coquettishly or playing tricks, the burden of both of them fell on Peng Yuyan and Wu Yanzu.

Chen Yingyi, who went south with Si Lan to see the world, took the initiative to walk up to Si Lan after the family members left. The two shyly pushed each other around, and finally Si Lan's bag fell into Chen Yingyi's shoulders.

Mrs. Wu, who was still standing there, saw her son listening to Zhou Zhiruo so much and couldn't help but say sourly, "What a jerk! When he was asked to sweep the floor at home, his legs or waist would either ache. Now, look what's going on. When that Zhou girl calls him brother, she loses her mind and happily carries someone else's bag!"

Mrs. Peng, who was standing next to her, was also looking at her son in the crowd. When she heard the voice, she said, "Your family is not at a disadvantage. Didn't you see that my brother Yan also helped A-ru carry the bag?"

"Hey~"

When this was mentioned, Mrs. Wu also laughed and said, "When they come back, we will marry the two children. At this age, they are full of passion."

The woman who came from a runaway family spoke without any reservations as usual.

Now, Mrs. Peng Er and Mrs. Wu Da were considered the most prominent ladies in Caizhou City, and were naturally surrounded by ladies from other families. Upon hearing what was said, some people agreed with the two families' handsome and pretty appearance, while others secretly turned their heads and curled their lips towards the ladies they knew to express their disdain for these two outspoken ladies.

In the team, Sandra Ng and Zhou Zhiruo, free of their baggage, returned to the women's team with ease, only to see Hu Tou standing alone in front of the team.

The two of them couldn't help but come forward and asked curiously: "Hey, didn't the imperial concubine send someone to invite you to the phoenix carriage? We would like to borrow your light and ride in the carriage together."

Hu Tou forced a smile and said insincerely, "It's nice to walk together."

"It's more than a thousand miles! My calves will be swollen after walking for two days."

After Sandra Ng finished speaking, Tiger Head said angrily, “Others can leave, so why can’t we leave!”

The two could tell that Hu Tou was a little emotional, so Zhou Zhiruo took the initiative to change the subject and said, "Xiang Yi, didn't the Queen come to see you off?"

This is really a case of bringing up something that is not relevant. This is also another reason why Hu Tou is unhappy.

In the past, even when Hu Tou went on the school's spring outing, her elder sister would personally prepare snacks for her and send her out.

But this time, when I said goodbye this morning, my sister just said "be careful on the road" and that was it.

She has been pampered by her family since she was a child. How could she not be sad about the gap today?

Hu Tou simply stopped talking. Wu and Zhou noticed something was wrong, looked at each other and said nothing more.

Three quarters of a hour.

As they were about to set off, the team of students had already begun to line up at the shouts of the guards, only to see Hanlu rushing over. After finally finding out where Hutou was, he ran up to him and stuffed a bundle into his arms.

Without waiting for Tiger Head to ask, Han Lu panted and said, "Since Miss Zhao said on the 18th that she was going to Jiangnan, the Queen has stayed up for two consecutive nights and made two sets of underwear by herself."

When Hu Tou heard this, tears started to flow down his cheeks. He held the bundle and murmured, "Sister Hanlu, why didn't you give it to me in person this morning?"

Seeing this, Hanlu quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears and said softly, "I don't know either, but in your heart, Xiangyi is no less important than anyone else."

Hanlu could see that there seemed to be something wrong with the two sisters, but she didn't know what exactly happened.

At noon, the team heading south, winding for several miles, slowly set off.

On June 25th, a sudden rain in the morning washed the city of Lin'an clean.

Chen Chu stood on the Fengshan Tower in the imperial city, holding in his hand a letter that had just been sent urgently from Caizhou, a handwritten letter from Maoer.

This letter has nothing to do with official business. It is a private matter at home.
"Your Majesty, Lord Chen is here."

Xiao Yi suddenly came to report, and Chen Chu put the letter in his arms, "Please ask Master Chen to come here."

Not long after, Chen Jing'an, who was following the army southward, went up to Fengshan Tower, which is the highest point in Lin'an. Looking southwest, one can see the street scene of Lin'an.

Looking to the northeast, you will see the harem of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

After Chen Jing'an came up, he saluted Chen Chu first, then looked to the northeast and said, "Your Majesty, how do you plan to arrange for the Queen and concubines of the Southern Dynasty?"

"When Chai Yuanyi arrives, ask the queen and the concubines to move out of the palace. Let her come forward, it will be more respectable."

When Emperor Zhou fled south, he left his entire harem in Lin'an. Although he had become impotent many years ago, he continued to take concubines into the palace over the years in order to conceal his tracks.

The women who could be chosen to enter the palace were either beautiful or came from an official family.

Chen Jing'an once worried that Chen Chu would take over the harem of Emperor Zhou, just like he did when he invaded Nanjing of the Jin Dynasty. Chen Jing'an understood this feeling.

After conquering a country, all the concubines in the harem become spoils of war. Your Majesty was young and energetic back then, so it was not surprising for him to do so.

But at that time, Chai Yuanyi had no one to rely on, but now the harem of the Zhou Kingdom is the base camp for the Zhou Emperor to balance the forces of all parties. Which woman doesn't have a follower behind her?
Chen Jing'an couldn't help but worry that this would cause some trouble.

But what surprised him was that since Chen Chu entered the imperial city, he had ordered his eldest son to seal off the palace gardens, and to send food, drink, clothing and other daily necessities in on a regular basis, but he himself had never set foot in the harem, had never met the palace maids, let alone visited the concubines.

Chen Jing'an, who was bending slightly, couldn't help but raise his eyes and secretly glanced at Chen Chu. The man in front of him now had a short beard under his chin. His face was still handsome in his prime, but there was a bit more majesty and determination between his eyebrows.

Chen Jingan couldn't help but think of the first time he met His Majesty in Tongshan. At that time, His Majesty was more lively, loved to joke, loved food, loved beauty, and loved to take risks.
More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. Now my great cause has been accomplished and I have grown old.

While Chen Jing'an was expressing his emotion, an inappropriate evaluation suddenly came to his mind: Your Majesty has grown up.

After sorting out his chaotic thoughts, Chen Jing'an suddenly said, "Your Majesty, I heard that the imperial concubine brought many young students with her when she went south this time."

"Correct."

"I think this is inappropriate."

"Just tell me, sir."

"The power of the Jiangnan noble families far exceeds that of the Central Plains. Although the young students have not been corrupted by the officialdom, they are also inexperienced. If they rely solely on their passion, they will inevitably make mistakes. The methods of the noble families can cause civil unrest if they are tough, but if they are gentle, they can coax others into drinking the poison that penetrates the intestines. For the students, it may be suspected of forcing the growth of seedlings."

As of the first battle report yesterday, Jiang Huaixiong's troops are about to complete the reorganization of the Jinghu Army, and will be able to march southwest and reach Chengdu Prefecture Road in the near future.

Han Shizhong and Xin Qiji's forces had already occupied most of Jiangnan Road and Liangzhe Road. Emperor Zhou led Zhang Kui of Qin Hui, together with Cui family of Jiangnan and Qian family of Zhejiang, and led more than 30,000 rioters, and retreated to the mountainous area of ​​Huichang and Wuping at the junction of Jiangnan West Road and Fujian Road.

Now, the newly occupied territories of Great Chu are still almost all controlled by the old officials of Zhou. They only need to replace the Zhou flag with the Chu flag before the arrival of the Chu army, and they will join the Chu system in one fell swoop.

The reason why Chen Chu acquiesced to this matter was, firstly, to reduce the intensity of resistance, and secondly, he did not have so many available people, which led to a large number of students going south.

"I have also thought about what you said, sir."

Chen Chu looked at Lin'an after the rain and said slowly: "Officialdom is like a battlefield. Our generation has fought on the battlefield, and now it is their turn to fight in the officialdom. One can never be naive without experiencing worldly affairs, and it is difficult to become an adult without setbacks. Each generation has its own battles. Only after going through this time can they be considered to have truly grown up." (End of this chapter)