Hello Chang’an

"It was Luo'er's carelessness that led to the fire in the tower. Please punish me." Mingluo spoke as an apology.

The Emperor's eyes moved slightly: "Careless?"

Mingluo bowed his head and said: "Afterwards, Luo'er carefully investigated the cause of the fire. It was because the Changming lamp accidentally fell to the ground and ignited the sacrificial sutra cloth. The monk who stepped forward to add lamp oil was frightened and accidentally knocked over the oil can in his hand. This caused the fire to suddenly spread..."

"It was Luo'er who failed to carefully check whether the Changming lampstand was stable and failed to adjust the place where the sutra cloth was hung, which caused the lampstand to fall to the ground and catch the sutra cloth and catch fire."

This is what she meant by "carelessness".

The Holy Emperor did not comment, looked at her for a moment, and asked: "What were the ladies of the Chang family doing during and before the fire?"

There was an unexpected look in Mingluo's lowered eyes.

As expected, the aunt suspected that the fire was related to Chang Suining.

"Before the fire, Mrs. Chang had been sitting behind the sutra table, waiting for the scriptures to be copied." Mingluo replied: "As for the time of the fire, Mrs. Chang was talking to Luo'er...she never left Luo'er for a moment before and after. Sight."

At that time, she was not the only spy in the tower. When she should tell the truth, she must not lie.

"Speak..." The Holy Book Emperor looked at Mingluo: "What did she say to you?"

Mingluo raised his face slightly, with a somewhat disapproving look on his face: "... Madam Chang said she was hungry and asked me if I could wait until she had finished her fasting meal before letting her copy the scriptures."

"Is that all there is?" asked the Holy Book Emperor.

Mingluo seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then said in a slightly complicated tone: "Ms. Chang looked at the Buddhist scriptures I copied and asked me if... I was also imitating the handwriting of Her Royal Highness the Princess."

When she relayed this sentence in this way, it seemed that Chang Sui Ning was comparing it with her - such a girl from the Chang family undoubtedly looked like a deliberate imitator.

At that time, the spies could only see Chang Suining talking to her, but they could not hear what the two of them said at that time... At this time, she had a choice in how to answer.

The Holy Book Emperor looked at her: "Is that just that?"

A probing sense of coercion came silently, Ming Luo forced himself to calm down and said: "Luo'er dare not and has no reason to deceive my aunt in the slightest."

The Holy Emperor didn't know whether he believed it or not, so he just asked: "Besides the fire, are there any other strange things happening in the tower today?"

"Back to Auntie, except for this matter, everything in the pagoda is as usual." As Mingluo spoke, he raised his hand and offered the box in his hand: "In Luo'er's opinion, Mrs. Chang is no different. This is the Buddhist scripture copied by Mrs. Chang. Please ask Auntie Check it out.”

One of the chamberlains who was the only one guarding the Holy Emperor stepped forward to take it and presented it to the imperial case.

The Emperor of the Holy Book looked through it with an uncertain look on his face. Just like the rumors, the Chang family's wife was very good at copying Chongyue's handwriting, and her handwriting was indeed in the style of Chongyue...

But the handwriting in front of me was steady and powerful, and it was definitely not something that someone with a physical condition could write.

After a moment of silence, there was an almost imperceptible look of disappointment in the eyes of the Holy Emperor.

She closed the box containing the scriptures, and when she pressed her palms on the box, she let out a hoarse cough.

Mingluo hurriedly raised his head and asked the chamberlain who hurriedly handed the water to the Holy Emperor: "Can my aunt take medicine at night?"

"Back to female history, I haven't yet..."

Mingluo frowned: "How could you be so careless?"

The **** sighed softly. The saint had been discussing matters with the ministers since he came back from the Goddess Tower. During this period, two more secret letters arrived. The saint was so busy that the palace lady who came to deliver medicine could not enter the study at all. He mentioned He said something, but before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the saint frowning.

Mingluo got up and went to urge Gong'e who was guarding outside to cook the medicine. After urging, she was still worried and went to the kitchen in person.

Not long after, Mingluo turned back, brought the medicine over, and drank it while serving the Holy Emperor.

The emperor is just a mortal body, not to mention that the Holy Emperor has always been diligent since he came to power and never dared to relax for a moment. Because of his excessive worries, as he got older, his body accumulated many diseases.

In addition, there have been frequent urgent matters in various places recently, and the dragon body caught the cold during the Double Ninth Festival to worship ancestors. The past two days were originally spent on handling government affairs and dealing with officials with their own concerns.

Mingluo thought of the girl in the Heavenly Lady Tower, and looked at the piles of memorials beside him. He knew in his heart that there were too many things that worried the Emperor of the Holy Book recently.

At the same time, she clearly felt for the first time that her aunt, who controlled everything and took care of everything, seemed to have no weaknesses, and who had been the emperor for more than ten years as a woman with a foreign surname, might now be a little out of her depth.

Everyone gets older, and limited energy will be dispersed.

Not talking about my aunt, throughout the ages, there are many examples of emperors who were brave, wise, sober and sage when they were young, but became dull and confused when they got old, and even destroyed their achievements with their own hands.

Perhaps, her aunt is no longer as completely unshakable as she imagined... right?

This unprecedented realization made Mingluo feel a little dazed for a moment.

After that brief moment of indescribable trance, Mingluo handed the empty medicine bowl to the waiter and said in a shameful tone: "It's just that Luo'er failed to share the worries for my aunt..."

"As long as you do what you should do, you will share my worries." After drinking the medicine, the Holy Emperor closed his eyes to rest, and said slowly: "In the next two days, if I don't summon you, You will stay together in the Goddess Tower. If there is anything suspicious, be sure to pay attention again and again..."

Mingluo's half-cast eyes fell on the box used to hold the Buddhist scriptures copied by Chang Sui Ning. It was ironic but also expected.

Sure enough, my aunt would not give up so easily.

She agreed and said with all her heart, "Yes, please don't worry, aunt."

After serving the Holy Emperor and resting, Mingluo left.

She walked down the stone steps, and there was no moon or light above the dark night above her head, with only a few very faint stars looming behind the dark clouds.

In the Tiannu Tower, Chang Sui Ning, who was resting in a quiet room on the second floor of the tower, could not close his eyes for a long time.

After waiting for a while, she stood up and put on her shoes in the darkness, casually took the coat hanging on the screen and put it on, came to the window, pushed the window open, and looked out of the tower.

There are ever-burning lamps in the Tower of the Goddess that stay on all year round, so although many lights are turned off in various places, there is still a faint light in the tower, so you can barely see.

Chang Suining was wondering whether he should explore the secret passage with traps at night and try to find some clues, but after thinking for a while, he gave up.

Although the trap has been destroyed, the people left behind may still be watching her tomorrow. It would have been very risky to secretly set off the fire today, but at that time she had to take the risk to save herself—

But now at least she is relatively safe. To avoid complications, she should stay calm for the time being.

If you want to live a long time, you should be bold and bold at the right time when you should be reckless, and you should be honest and keep your tail hidden when you should.

His hands and feet decided to be at ease for the time being, but his mind was still not quiet for a moment. Chang Sui Ning held on to the window lattice and looked up at the night sky with many mixed thoughts.

When she looked away, she keenly caught a dark shadow in her peripheral vision.

Chang Suining turned around and looked around, and saw a person sitting next to the stone table in the pagoda courtyard where she had eaten her meal today.

The man's back was facing her direction, sitting quietly in the night. There was no movement from beginning to end, but she didn't notice it until then.

Was he also left to monitor her tomorrow?

But the other party just sat there, looking a little aboveboard.

Chang Suining poked his head out of the window again and looked at it intently for a moment. No, that person seemed to be...

The young man who had been sitting here quietly for a long time suddenly felt something coming towards him from behind.

He instinctively turned to one side to avoid the object.

With a soft sound, the thing hit the stone table and rolled several times.

The young man picked up the thing and looked at it through the light emitted by the lantern hanging on the eaves of the tower. He saw that it was actually a chestnut. After being startled for a moment, he stood up with the chestnut and looked back behind him in the direction from which the chestnut was flying.

In the darkness, he raised his eyes and saw a lightly dressed girl holding her hands on the window lattice behind a window on the second floor of the tower, leaning out her upper body and looking towards him.

Cui Jing's brows and eyes, stained by the coolness of the autumn night, immediately softened and she walked over subconsciously.

Seeing him coming, the girl in the window simply bent over and got out of the window, stepped on the eaves of the tower, and was about to jump off.

Upon seeing this, Cui Jing walked a few steps quickly and quickly stretched out a hand.

However, the girl with light movements quickly landed firmly on the ground without him needing to support her.

Cui Jing breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly took back his hand and put it behind his back.

Chang Suining walked up to him in two steps, glanced at his empty back, and asked in a low voice: "Why is Governor Cui here so late at night?"

"I... come and sit for a while." Cui Jing seemed a little unsure of how to answer.

He really just wanted to come and sit for a while.

After hearing this undetailed answer, Chang Sui Ning did not ask further.

At this moment, she only saw a pair of eyes that looked cold but seemed to be hiding endless words at the moment, looking at her. After a moment, the owner of those eyes asked: "Today...are you okay?"

He usually speaks most crisply and clearly, but tonight these two sentences were full of pauses.

His eyes and some silent body language were also different from usual.

The Cui Jing she met for the first time was aloof and unkind.

Cui Jing, who later became her friend, spoke little but was always sincere.

Cui Jing, who was standing in front of her tonight, seemed...a little at a loss.

This is Cui Jing she has never seen before.

Chang Suijing looked at him quietly for a while before nodding: "Don't worry, everything is fine with me."

Cui Jing gave a rare smile, that's good.

After a moment, he said: "Actually, I'm here to see you."

Chang Suining also smiled: "I know."

Otherwise, she wouldn't have jumped down so foolishly.

"Then why don't you throw a stone and tell me to come down." She said, "You can try throwing a stone next time."

Cui Jing nodded seriously: "Okay, I remember."

In fact, it wasn't that he was so stupid that he didn't know how to call her down, he just didn't want to disturb her rest. She should have a good rest after suffering such torture today.

He had planned to sit there until dawn, waiting for her to get up.

And he just sat here, thinking that she could sleep peacefully in the tower, and he felt much more at ease.

"Why are you here to see me now?" Chang Suining tried to ask.

Just to ask her "how are you today"?

Cui Jing does have one more thing.

"I will leave Dayun Temple tomorrow. After returning to Xuance Mansion to arrange all the affairs, I will leave Beijing early the next morning."

Chang Suining was a little surprised: "Are you going to the north to prepare for the construction of border defenses?"

Under Cui Jing's urging, the amount of money allocated by the Ministry of Finance was finally halfway down. He had said that he would leave after worshiping the ancestors on the Double Ninth Festival, but she still felt vaguely in a hurry.

Cui Jing said: "I need to go to Bingzhou first."

"Bingzhou?" Chang Suining had a bad intuition: "Something happened?"

Cui Jing's voice became even lower: "The Saint received a secret report that I, the Chief of the Governor's House in Bingzhou, secretly exchanged letters with Xu Zhengye, and may have the intention to turn to Xu Zhengye."

Chang Suining looked solemn.

"So I need to secretly take people there as soon as possible to control the situation in Bingzhou before they make any moves." Cui Jing said: "In order to avoid alerting others, this trip needs to be concealed from others. When I leave the next day, I will only go to the north to build border defenses."

Chang Suining understood. This was a secret order.

She looked around warily and said subconsciously: "Since this is an unspeakable secret trip, you don't have to tell me."

There might be Empress Ming's confidants eavesdropping secretly, and he just revealed confidential matters to her like this...

Cui Jing: "You asked me, and I answered."

Chang Sui Ning was slightly startled when he heard the words, looked at those eyes that were still honest and sincere, and asked: "Whatever I ask, will you answer truthfully?"

In the night, the young man nodded to her: "Metropolis."

Chang Suining looked at him and smiled.

She did have many questions she wanted to ask him, but unfortunately, this was not a good occasion or a good time to talk.

There is nothing wrong with her chatting with him about insignificant things. Even if word of it reached the Ming Dynasty, he would at most have the impression that he was "dazzled by love."

He already said "I won't marry anyone except you", so it made sense to come and see her before leaving. On the contrary, if he avoids coming to see her, or it is inconsistent with his previous behavior, his coming will actually eliminate some future suspicions.

This was probably the reason why he dared to sit here and wait for her openly.

But if it goes deeper, it is destined to be impossible to ask or tell at this time.

Chang Suining was a little regretful that he couldn't ask today. I don't know when we will see him next time.

She asked: "If the annexation of the states is decided, will we have to rush directly to the north?"

Cui Jing nodded: "Yes."

Chang Suining: "It may take several years before we see each other again."

Cui Jing was silent for a while. For him, it was normal to lead an army on an expedition, but he had never been in such a state of mind before leaving the capital.

At this moment, the girl in front of him suddenly took two steps closer to him and leaned closer to him.

Cui Jing's breathing and mind were stagnant.

Due to the habit of marching and fighting for many years, when someone suddenly approached him like this, he should have instinctively retreated, but at this time, he froze in place and remained motionless, only silently clenching the chestnut in his hand.

At such a close distance, he could even smell the faint scent of incense on the girl's body. This scent used to worship the gods was noble and sacred, and was very suitable for her.

And just now she said that they would not meet again until several years later, so could it be that...