Yan Yujin had long been impatient to listen to their scheming in the shed, so he ran outside to watch the competition alone. When he saw them leaving, he ran back and saw Mei Changsu sitting on a chair coughing non-stop.

, Xiao Jingrui patted him on the back gently and asked hurriedly: "What's wrong with Brother Su? Are you sick again?"

"It's nothing..." Mei Changsu took the tea Xiao Jingrui handed him and took a sip, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. "Both the Crown Prince and His Highness Prince Yu wear a certain kind of fragrance... some of them are not used to it..."

"Ah, I know, that is ambergris from the East China Sea. The emperor rewarded it. Only the two of them have it. The aroma is really strong. No wonder Brother Su can't get used to it. But I heard that it is the best for refreshing people and aphrodisiac.

What’s the effect?”

"Really..." Mei Changsu responded casually, glancing at Xie Bi who was standing aside, as if he wasn't listening carefully to what they were saying.

The information that he hates ambergris will probably be conveyed to King Yu by Xie Bi tonight, so King Yu will definitely not wear the incense again when he sees him next time. And Xiao Jingrui and Yan Yujin are definitely not the prince's people, so there should be no

He would tell the prince this news, but if he deliberately did not wear the incense the next time he saw her, it would mean that there was also a spy for the prince in Prince Yu's palace.

And if the prince didn't get any information and still appeared in front of him wearing ambergris, then King Yu's ability and skills should be worthy of re-evaluation, and he should be given a few more points...

After that, it finally became a lot quieter. There were no more visitors of all kinds, allowing them to watch a few competitions in peace. Although no masters had appeared yet, it was not boring.

There was an hour's break at noon, and there were still shadows floating on the Yingfeng Tower. It was hard to see whether His Majesty the Emperor was still there. He probably only showed his face, and he probably wouldn't insist on sitting there for several days to watch from the beginning.

At the end of the day, Yan Yujin had arranged for someone to deliver food and wine boxes at some point. He was chatting about the morning's events with great interest, waiting for the game to start in the afternoon. Among all the people, he was probably the only one who really put his mind to it.

On the competition.

Not long after the afternoon, Xie Bi found an excuse to disappear. Seeing Mei Changsu's careless and tired look, Xiao Jingrui suggested that he go back to the house in advance. Yan Yujin couldn't persuade him to stay, so he could only stand alone in the shed.

He sent them off by the door.

As soon as he got on the carriage, Mei Changsu leaned back on the soft cushions and closed his eyes to rest. Xiao Jingrui did not disturb him and sat quietly beside him, as if he was also thinking about something. The carriage slowly shook, and the shoulders of the two people

From time to time they touch each other lightly, and the atmosphere feels very peaceful, but also slightly stagnant.

"Jing Rui, did you see it when we came out just now?" Mei Changsu asked softly after a while.

Xiao Jingrui palpitated, and his fingers unconsciously pulled at the tassel on the curtain. It took a long time before he said "hmm".

"You saw it...do you feel anything?" Mei Changsu opened his eyes and slowly turned his gaze to the person in the car, who was also paying attention. There was something sour and sweet in his clear eyes.

The sweet and astringent taste still seems a bit confused, but it seems to be very clear.

"The first feeling is... her hairstyle has changed. Her hair that was hanging down is now all tied up. It looks pretty, even better than before..." Xiao Jingrui narrowed his eyes slightly, as if thinking about it.

"Then I saw the people around her, holding hands... To be honest, I still felt a little uncomfortable at this time, but I felt very harmonious. At that time, she turned her head to talk to him, and he listened quietly,

That picture looked very pleasing to the eye, and there was nothing uncomfortable about it, especially the way he looked at her, that look... made me feel that it was worth it for Miss Yun to wait for him. Maybe when I was most obsessed with her, I would do the same.

I can't look at her with that look...Brother Su, I don't know why, I just know that I can't do it now. I seem to be lacking something, but I can't figure it out..."

"Because people who have experienced life and death are like returning from another world. People who have only lived in one world are difficult to be like them..." Mei Changsu looked at him deeply,

His eyes were full of kindness, "But why should we be like them? Wouldn't it be better if we could live happily in a simple world for the rest of our lives?"

Xiao Jingrui's eyebrows twitched, "Does Brother Su think that... Miss Yun's husband has ever experienced..."

"If we don't go through life and death, how can we have an alliance in the past life?" Mei Changsu sighed softly, "No matter what story they had in the past, it is gratifying that such infatuation has come to an end.

"

"Yes," Xiao Jingrui nodded solemnly, "A good person like Miss Yun, who is kind and benevolent, will naturally have good results in the love between husband and wife."

Mei Changsu turned his face slightly to one side, covering up the glimmering light in his eyes, and said to himself in a very low voice: "A pure and kind child like you should have a good outcome..."

"Brother Su, what did you say?" Xiao Jingrui leaned over and listened carefully, but couldn't hear clearly.

"I said... a good boy like you will definitely meet a lovely girl again in the future..."

"In the future..." Xiao Jingrui sighed, lost his mind for a while, opened the car curtain, and turned to look outside.

At first I was just taking a casual look, but as soon as I poked my head out, I saw a group of people gathered around the corner not far ahead. A carriage stopped in the middle of the crowd, and there were voices of cursing coming from inside.

"Jing Rui, stop the car and see what happened." Mei Changsu also stood up and looked outside, "I heard the sound of a child."

"Hey." Xiao Jingrui responded and ordered the horseman to stop. He jumped out of the car and took a closer look. In fact, the people gathered around were all wearing the same servant clothes. The lampshade of the "He" mansion was hung in front of the carriage.

The idle people on the street did not dare to approach, they only stood and watched the excitement from a distance.

Xiao Jingrui frowned. He probably guessed who was showing off his power in the street again. He squeezed into the inner circle and saw that it was indeed He Wenxin, the son of He Jingzhong, the Minister of Civil Affairs. He was kicking a thin boy, beating and scolding him.

: "You little bastard, why are you running around here? You startled my young master's horse, causing me to almost fall off..." He then grabbed the riding crop from the attendant beside him, and was about to whip it down hard, but was grabbed by someone.

live.

"Who the f*ck dares..." He Wenxin cursed half of it dully, and then saw Xiao Jingrui's face clearly, and swallowed the second half of the sentence. In fact, the children of real aristocratic families in the capital are generally well-educated.

, it is very rare for people to act evil in the street like this. Even if there are some people who have no regard for ordinary people in their bones, most of them will be proud of their status and disdain to beat and scold them in person. This He Wenxin's father was born in the imperial examination and was a

After being transferred around, his son was left to be pampered by his grandmother, which was a bit undisciplined. Within a few years after entering Beijing, he had already gained a bad reputation. Fortunately, he still had some respect for him, and he usually didn't offend people he couldn't afford, so he got there.

Nothing happened today. Seeing that it was Xiao Jingrui who came forward, he didn't dare to say anything. He just said a few words, "Forget it, I'm too lazy to worry about it." Then he led his men away quickly.

Although Xiao Jingrui was angry, it was impossible to catch him and beat him up, so he could only shake his head and knelt down to look at the child. The boy was thin and small, probably less than ten years old, with a smear on his face.

There were a few red palm prints, and they were slightly swollen. Seeing that the person who beat him was gone, he straightened up his crouched body slightly, crawled around quickly to pick up the books scattered on the floor, and put them into a tall pile again.

It was an old furoshiki package, but there were so many books and so little cloth that it took a long time to tie it up.

"What's your name?" Xiao Jingrui also helped pick up a few books and came back, touching the boy's shoulder. "You must have been kicked several times. Are you injured?"

The boy shrank away from his hand, lowered his head and said nothing.

"Jing Rui," Mei Changsu called from the carriage, "bring the child over and let me take a look."

"Oh." Xiao Jingrui reached out and grabbed the boy's arm and said warmly, "How can you carry so many books? I'll find someone to help you carry them. Come on, let's go first."

"I can carry him..." the boy muttered in a low voice, but in the end he did not dare to struggle. He was half-dragged and half-carried by Xiao Jingrui to the carriage and stuffed into the carriage.

Mei Changsu put his warm and soft hands on the boy's shoulders, moving down one by one, gently but carefully examining his whole body. When his palm touched his ribs, the child screamed in pain and hid back.

.

"It's probably hurt here." Xiao Jingrui supported the boy's body from behind and gently unbuttoned his shirt. But after taking a look, he couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. He saw that there was nothing on his thin body except for his ribs.

In addition to the new bruises, there are also old wounds all over. At a glance, it looks like they were beaten with sticks, whipped, or even burned with a soldering iron. Although the marks are a little faded, you can still imagine what the child suffered at that time.

What kind of torture.

"Whose child are you from?" Xiao Jingrui couldn't hide his shock and asked loudly, but after a second thought, he changed his mind and asked, "Are you from which family's boy? Who beats you so often..."

"No..." the child immediately denied, "Not for several years. This was before..."

"Even before, you told me, who hit me?"

"Jing Rui," Mei Changsu stopped him softly, "Don't ask, this child's ribs are cracked even if they are not broken. Take him home first and ask a doctor to take a closer look. Bring in those books as well.

Look, this kid has been thinking about his books..."

He was right. When the boy saw that all the books had been brought in, he was obviously relieved and begged softly: "I'm fine. Please let me go. I can go back by myself..."

"Where are you going back?" Xiao Jingrui took the opportunity to ask.

The boy's reaction seemed to be very sharp and he immediately lowered his head.

"Do you read these books?" Mei Changsu asked gently as he looked through the pile of books. Perhaps because he always had a gentle and reassuring temperament, the boy looked up and glanced at him, his expression calm.

He picked up some and replied in a low voice: "Some are...some...can't understand yet..."

"How old are you?"

"Eleven years old."

"What is your name?"

The boy paused for a long time, long enough for people to think he wouldn't answer, before he numbly uttered two words: "Tingsheng."

"What's your last name?"

"...I don't have a surname, so I'm just called Tingsheng..."

Mei Changsu took a closer look at the child again. Although his cheeks were red and swollen and his appearance was immature, his features were still very handsome. From the beginning, his speech and behavior were very submissive, and he did not tolerate any unfair treatment.

Although he had the intention of resisting, the strange thing was that he could not feel the slightest bit of servant spirit in him. It seemed that he had a kind of bloodiness and tenacity in his bones. No matter how much he was bullied, he could not be humbled.

"Tingsheng, if we let you go now, will someone find a doctor for you when you go back?"

Tingsheng pursed his lips, obviously he didn't have a definite answer and was unwilling to lie.

"Then we have to take you to where we live first. After the doctor has finished checking and says you are fine, we will send you back. Is this okay?"

Tingsheng lowered his head and said nothing, his eyebrows knitted tightly.

"Will our good intentions cause you trouble?"

Tingsheng throbbed and bit his lip tightly.

"Did you come out alone?"

"No...there is another one..."

"Where is that person?"

"Run away first..."

"If you go back late, will someone hit you?"
To be continued...