I sat on the steps and fed the rice grains in my hand to the chickens on the ground. The chickens were bought by Mu San with two rabbits from Aunt Li next door. They originally exchanged ten chickens and now only half are left. Mu San said that I fed them too much and they were strangled to death. I refused to accept this reason. The five dead chickens must have been born with deficiencies that made them unable to adapt to the climate of Aunt Li's house and my house, so they died early.
When I told Mu San my thoughts, he only glanced at me, his eyes showing shock, helplessness, and some admiration. Of course I understand this. But then I fed him less often.
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Zhao Xi was sitting on the steps of the front hall. He told me that this was the place where he had lived since he was a child. Here his royal brother and his wife took him to enjoy flowers and the moon. Almost all his happiness and unhappiness are here. He raised his head and looked at me. It's not that he didn't know that the death of the emperor's sister-in-law was related to Concubine Qin, but behind Concubine Qin was Qin Kun, and behind Qin Kun were hundreds of officials. When he came to power, his foundation was not stable, and the treasury was empty, he could not touch Concubine Qin. Zhao Xi smiled. Before his death, the emperor told him that he was going to find his Wanwan, and he wanted to apologize to his Wanwan in person. Smiling and laughing, Zhao Xi cried. I walked up the steps and held him in my arms. He murmured that his royal brother was dead.
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In her second year in Jiangnan, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Ayuan took out the fruit wine she brewed. It was her first try. She knew how to brew mare's milk, but mare's milk was rare in Jiangnan, so she brewed fruit wine.
The wine is a little sweet, the moon is very round, and Prince Yu's Mansion is very bright even without a lantern. A Yuan and I were sitting in the courtyard.
Ayuan told me that her home is in the desert. There is not as rich as Jiangnan, not as prosperous as the capital, and there are not even graceful and precious flowers. But the sunset there is so beautiful that it dyes the entire sky and even the earth golden. There's kumiss there. Very fragrant and mellow. There was her home and her dead family there.
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A Yuan is a very out-of-the-box girl. She likes to talk, laugh, and be pretty. She has been with me for nearly seven years, and this is the first time I have seen her look so sentimental.
Ayuan held up the knife and looked at me with tears in her eyes. She said to me, I'm sorry. She thrust the knife into her belly. My head was so dizzy that I couldn't hear any sounds around me. I watched the guards drag A Yuan's body away. I watched the right minister staggering towards Zhao Hengxin. Someone bumped into me. I heard the emperor shouting to call the imperial doctor. I looked up at Zhao Xi, but he obviously didn't react. He got up and ran over to help me up.
I thought that no woman would joke with me or tell me about the sunset in the desert.