Chapter 24： sneak away

In fact, there is a curfew in Dasheng Dynasty.

It was especially strictly enforced during the reign of the first few emperors in Dasheng, but later the night market became bigger and bigger, and the opening time of the curfew was pushed back and later.

When encountering some special festivals and celebrations, the ban can be specially allowed to be lifted, such as Qujiang Night.

Qujiang Pavilion in the capital city, the banks of the Qujiang River are already full of joy.

These folk musicians, kabuki, merchants and citizens seem to have regarded the day after the scientific examination as an important festival.

There were also many princes and nobles, ministers of the court arrived early, only to find good son-in-laws for their precious daughters-in-law, especially those handsome men, who were even more sought after by everyone.

Even the kind of handsome talents who are only a step away from becoming an official and frustrated in the examination room, many people approached them to strike up a conversation.

These princes and ministers were looking for their son-in-laws in the crowd, waiting for the emperor's honor by the way.

Well, by the way.

Among these noble officials was Yang Dejin. She changed into a light-colored uniform and came to the scene early. After so many days in the book, it was the first time for her to participate in such a grand festival.

"His Highness has come?"

Yang Dejin heard someone calling her, she turned around, and saw Ji Zhuilu wearing an official hat with a slipknot hanging down his chin, and an official robe covered with armor, as if he was about to send troops to fight.

Yang Dejin: "Lieutenant Ji, you are..."

Ji Zhuilu: "Ha, Your Highness forgot? The annual Qujiang event requires the city defense department to maintain order. No, the subordinate officials are patrolling nearby."

Yang Dejin understood: "Even the Qujiang Banquet requires the dispatch of the Capital Patrol Department. Captain Ji really worked hard."

"Not only the Qujiang banquet, but also the subsequent lake tour, all need brothers to be busy." Ji Zhuilu smiled wryly and shook his head, "But it's all for the one above, and the hard work is deserved."

Yang Dejin kept smiling, pretending not to understand the cryptic meaning in his words, and secretly looked at the Chengmen captain.

"Oh, by the way, the officials of the court will take a rest for a day tomorrow." Ji Zhuilu suddenly said, "I heard that a new restaurant opened in the capital recently, which offers all kinds of rare dishes and expensive snacks. If your highness is free tomorrow, can you give me a favor?" get together?"

Yang Dejin looked at the officer in front of her, she smiled and said: "Lieutenant Ji is talking about the Persuading Immortal Building? It is best to be recommended by an acquaintance to enter there, and it is a famous gold-selling cave in the capital. I am really sorry that Captain Ji spent money on it." .It’s better to let this king be the host, and it’s better than letting Xiaowei Ji be caught by the censor to participate in the book.”

Ji Zhuilu was immediately pleasantly surprised, and laughed: "It turns out that this is the case. The officials didn't even know that there is a threshold for acquaintances to enter the Quanxian Tower, so they made a joke in front of His Highness. If His Highness is so caring, then the officials should be respectful rather than obedient."

The two of them said a few more polite words, and Ji Zhuilu left on the grounds of work.

It was not until the beginning of the Xu Dynasty, when the afterglow of the setting sun danced at the head of Qujiang River, that the emperor's chariot arrived at the bank of Qujiang River.

Li Zifu changed into a dark suit of casual clothes, and his hair was still tied into a herringbone braid. The officials who came with the empress all wore their official robes. Bai Qingyang was more elegant and simple, wearing an ivory white double-breasted skirt.

Qujiang banquet is divided into two venues, one is Qujiang Pavilion, where only officials and emperors can enter the banquet. One is a gathering of civilians centered on Qujiang Pavilion and stretching for several miles along the river bank.

Hundreds of officials raised wine to celebrate the candidates in the list.

After the banquet lasted for an hour, Bai Qingyang and Xie Zhi left the banquet one after another according to the original plan.

Yang Dejin asked Xie Zhi to tell Bai Qingyang that she could find any reason and tell the emperor to leave.

Bai Qingyang felt that this idea was unreliable at first, and she wondered if Xie Zhi had been tricked by Prince Yu.

Not to mention her, Xie Zhi also felt that it was outrageous, but this was the only chance, Prince Yu said that everything would be left to her, so they could only give it a try.

As a result, when Bai Qingyang told Li Zichou that he was not feeling well, Li Zichou let him go after a few casual words of concern.

Bai Qingyang: ...That's it?

It was too easy, it was almost like a routine, and the terrified escape plan was just a formality.

Xie Zhi was sitting next to the small case below, and was also surprised: So... let him go?

She turned her head in a daze and looked at Yang Dejin who was sitting opposite the empress at the first seat.

Yang Dejin was peeling oranges for himself to eat, and felt that someone was staring at him, so he raised his head to meet Xie Zhi's gaze.

Xie Zhi looked at herself straightly. Although her face was expressionless as usual, her slightly parted lips showed that she was in a daze at the moment.

It was the first time Yang Dejin saw this man with such a blank expression, he was taken aback for a moment, and couldn't care less to swallow the orange pulp in his mouth, but with his cheek on one side, his eyes widened, and he looked extremely stupid.

Yang Dejin: ... What... What's wrong?

She turned her head and glanced at the high position, there was only Lu Xiaoying standing behind Li Zichou, Bai Qingyang had already left.

Isn't everything going according to plan, nothing wrong? Why is Xie Zhi looking at her like this?

Yang Dejin was puzzled, so she turned around and asked her with her eyes: What's wrong?

Xie Zhi slowly closed his mouth and looked at her with complicated eyes: ...

Yang Dejin:? ?

Xie Zhi thought to himself, Prince Yu is really scheming and cunning.

Here Yang Dejin still didn't understand what her expression meant, but seeing that she didn't pay attention to him anymore, he continued to show off the oranges and went to wonder alone.

After a while, after Xie Zhi met Yang Dejin's eyes, he excused himself to leave the meeting, and everything went according to plan.

Bai Qingyang wanted to go back to Yuheng Palace first, and she would not be here for the next two days, so she had to settle her stake in the palace. Xie Zhi prepared chariots and horses outside the palace and personally went to the gate of the palace to pick him up.

Bai Qingyang followed Xiao Le. She also knew that she would see the old lady tonight, so she was very excited, but she also knew that this was a secret, so she kept silent and just followed her own lady.

As soon as the two of them returned to Yuheng Palace, they found a guest standing in the courtyard.

Just as Xiao Le wanted to ask who was standing there, Bai Qingyang raised his hand to stop her, and sent her into the hall to collect some things.

"Master Meng, haven't you been taken away by His Majesty?"

Meng Shike turned around, he changed into the same low-level white official uniform as Zhou Huaijin, and bowed respectfully to Bai Qingyang: "See empress, Caomin has been waiting for a long time."

"wait for me?"

Meng Shike also seemed very strange, and he replied: "The empress seems to be afraid of me. The new favorite next to her sent me here, and she didn't say what she wants me to do."

Bai Qingyang was confused: Zhou Huaijin sent someone to come over... Could it be Li Fu's intention?

"So it turns out that Yuheng Palace is the empress's bedroom." Meng Shike looked around at the tall buildings.

"I wanted you to lie dormant beside Li Chou and stare at her, but I didn't expect you to come back to me."

Meng Shike didn't care much: "It's okay, there is someone staring at the Empress."

Bai Qingyang nodded: "Forget it, you came back just in time. I have some arrangements for you."

Bai Qingyang walked into the building while talking, and Meng Shike followed behind her.

"The vice-president of Commander Zhao of the Left Battalion of the Forbidden Army, go find him and ask him to join the line of Zhenxi General Huang Qian in the near future. I want to get the military power as soon as possible.

"Since Mr. Meng has already entered the capital, it means that I don't need to worry about Qinzhou City.

"In addition, when General Yuchi returned to the border a few days ago, my people did not catch up with him. Please, Mr. Meng, send a letter to the northern border guards, especially Yongzhou, asking them to pay close attention to Shuobei's movements."

"Wait, wait," Meng Shike felt something was wrong when he heard this, "Your Majesty is in such a hurry, why is there such a hurry?"

Bai Qingyang: "I want to go out of the palace to see my mother."

Meng Shike's eyes widened: "Ma'am? Wasn't she picked up a long time ago, and you didn't pick her up?"

Bai Qingyang: "At Xie Zhi's residence, he arranged for me to go out of the palace to meet my mother today." After speaking, he was about to call Xiao Le.

"Wait!" Meng Shike suddenly blocked her, "Are you going out of the palace tonight? The Empress will allow it? I'm afraid it's not a trap."

Bai Qingyang looked at him squarely: "Master Meng, I really want to see Mommy. I came here to ask you to help me, not to let you stop me."

Meng Shike did not give in at all: "I must ensure your safety. I have never heard of Xie Zhi, so I can't believe it."

"How could you not have heard of it?" Bai Qingyang avoided him, "He is father's best student."

Only then did Meng Shike seem to have remembered something, and said thoughtfully: "Baigong's... so it is, it is Xie Zhirui from the Linjing government office."

Meng Shike was Bai Xun's staff in Qinzhou. In Bai Qingyang's previous life, this person had been working in the local government and had never been in the central government. After Bai Qingyang was reborn, he contacted him urgently and summoned him to Linjing.

Naturally, Meng Shike had never met Xie Zhi, but he had heard that Prime Minister Bai had a favorite student named Zhirui, and he had also heard of Xie Zhi's name as the Lone Star of the Punishment Department.

It turned out to be the same person.

Only then did Meng Shike back down: "Okay, since I'm Bai Gong's student, I naturally believe it. But I still have to tell my mother to be careful."

"Ben Gong will be careful." Bai Qingyang left these words, and left with Xiao Le.

//

Bai Qingyang and Xiao Le walked along the palace road until they reached the palace gate. Bai Qingyang looked at the guards guarding the palace gate from afar, hesitating.

Xiao Le: "Miss, since we are leaving the palace secretly, why do we have to leave the palace openly?"

Bai Qingyang: ...I also want to ask.

Xie Zhi who was waiting outside the palace gate: ...I also want to ask.

Yang Dejin, who was socializing at the Qujiang Banquet: Don't ask, it's just for tracking and protection.

Sure enough, when Bai Qingyang took Xiao Le out of the palace gate, just like what Prince Yu said, no one stepped forward to stop him.

The guards guarding the gate heard the movement and looked at Bai Qingyang and the two, remembering what Li Zichou had said before, they all looked away.

The empress and the empress are really awkward. The empress wants to leave the palace to get some fresh air, so she can just send someone to protect her and go out of the palace openly, but she chooses to pick a dark and windy night to release her secretly, and won't tell others, aphasia .

Bai Qingyang got into the car brought by Xie Zhi, and Xie Zhi drove the car himself, and drove towards his house.

"Someone followed our carriage." Bai Qingyang said suddenly.

"It's mine."

"No," Bai Qingyang lifted the curtain of the car and said, "Those people who dress like ordinary people..."

Xie Zhi also saw it: "The plainclothes of the Prince's Mansion."

Bai Qingyang frowned: "Why did Prince Yu help us, you and Prince Yu..."

Xie Zhi was sitting on the driver's seat of the carriage, her voice came through the curtains: "I and Prince Yu are just a cooperative relationship, don't worry about it, empress."

She didn't say that many things about herself had been known by Yang Dejin.

"Prince Ke Yu is a man whose city is extremely deep and unpredictable, thank you, my lord..."

Bai Qingyang knew that she shouldn't interfere with Xie Zhi's actions, but she was really worried about Prince Yu's accident.

That person, like Li Fu, had changed too much. In this life, she could no longer control Prince Yu.

Xie Zhi was silent for a while, remembering the scene when Yang Dejin secretly talked to her in Su Men Dian this morning, that man was like a cynical dandy in class.

No matter what, she felt that she couldn't get along with the city mansion very deeply, and it was true that she was unpredictable.

She knew that Bai Qingyang had doubts, so she had no choice but to say: "Your Majesty, don't worry, Zhi Rui has his own measure in mind."

Xie Zhi didn't want to say more, and Bai Qingyang didn't want to talk too much, he just closed his mouth and quietly followed the carriage.

Xiao Le was sitting in a carriage behind, driven by a coachman, she seemed very excited, as if she couldn't bear it.

Unlike Bai Qingyang's side which was going smoothly, Li Zizuo and Yang Dejin's side had unexpected changes.

The Qujiang River is still very lively. The water of the Qujiang River is rippling with all kinds of river lights. The Jinshi are surrounded by the common people. People are singing and dancing, sincerely congratulating them on the gold list and praising the prosperity of Dasheng.

Inside the Qujiang Pavilion, however, there was deathly silence, and all the officials were trembling, like a light on their backs.

The officers and soldiers of the city defense and patrol department surrounded the scene and strictly guarded the officials and attendants inside.

Li Zishou and Yang Dejin looked solemnly at the sixth-rank civil servant lying beside his desk, foaming at the mouth.

The author has something to say:

Probably Xie Zhi thought that Yang Dejin knew about their plan but Li Zichou didn't. In fact, Yang Dejin knew that Li Zichou knew about Bai Qingyang and Xie Zhi's plan. Bai Qingyang thought that Li Zichou didn't know that Yang Dejin knew about Xie Zhi's plan. Zhi knew about the plan, and what Bai Qingyang and Xie Zhi didn't know was that Li Zishou knew about it because the plan came from Li Zishou and Yang Dejin (?)