The mountain has trees, and the trees have eighty-four branches facing each other.

  "Ah Yan," Liu Ying smiled as she gazed at her, sighing emotionally, "it's been a year since we last met, you've grown taller and become even more beautiful."

  She also smiled and curved a pair of bright eyes, "Uncle looks more majestic than before."

  "You still know how to smile," Liu Ying recalled what she had just seen, and her heart was still racing with fear, so she scolded sternly, "How could you run out alone? If I hadn't just seen it myself, do you know how much danger you were in?"

  Zhang Yan didn't actually think much of it, she wasn't really reckless. Although she rode out alone, she was always controlling the distance with her family behind her. As long as she could delay for a little while, her family would be able to catch up, what big deal could happen? But at this moment, she couldn't muster up any intention to argue with Liu Ying, and softly admitted defeat, "Okay uncle, I won't dare again next time." She couldn't help but slightly raise the corners of her mouth.

  "There's always next time." Fan Jiong gathered up the drunkard and walked over with a smile, patting his palms together.

  As they spoke, the guards from Xuanping Hou's residence arrived, dismounted and came forward to bow, "Is everything all right, Mistress Zhang?"

  "It's all right," Zhang Yan shook her hand, pointing at Liu Ying, "I'll talk to my two uncles for a while, you go back to the Hou Mansion first and tell Mother that I'll be back soon."

  "What?" The leader of the guards hesitated.

  "Let's go according to Ah Yan's intention." Liu Ying smiled slightly and instructed, "Later, I will personally send her back to the Xuanping Marquis' residence."

  He had been emperor for a long time and gradually had an air of authority as a superior, the guards involuntarily lowered their heads and responded with a "Yes."

  "Chang jian." He instructed again, "Go to the street opposite to buy a portion of stir-fried chestnuts, remember to add malt sugar."

  Zhang Yan looked at him for a while, raised her lips and smiled. "Uncle still remembers that I like to eat fried chestnuts."

  "Who forgot?" Fan Jiong burst out laughing, "Who made you eat too many chestnuts that Dragon Boat Festival year, and lost your appetite for several days?"

  Zhang Yan's face suddenly turned red, and she chased after Fan Jiong, scolding him, "Those were all several years ago, why do you still remember?"

  "How did Uncle suddenly come to Xinfeng?" Zhang Yan peeled the sugar-roasted chestnuts, looking out of the window on the second floor of the restaurant at the bustling scene below, and asked casually.

  "Every day staying in Chang'an is a bit dull, so I came out for a walk." Liu Xin smiled and said. "A Yan, you probably don't know that after you left for a year, the city of Chang'an has changed greatly."

  "Is it?" Zhang Yan raised her head and smiled, "Then I can take a good stroll when I have the time."

  "Unfortunately," she suddenly remembered the child in her memory, who was as white as jade and had bright eyes, and slowly sighed with her mouth closed, "Uncle Ruyu won't be able to see it."

  As soon as these words came out, Liu Ying's expression changed instantly.

  After a long while, he let out a deep sigh and said, "It's getting late. Let's go for a walk."

  Fan Jiong deliberately fell back a step, pulling Zhang Yan and softly complaining, "You clearly know that the Emperor still has a grudge against Zhao Wang's affairs, why must you bring up Zhao Wang to provoke him?"

  Zhang Yan pursed her lips and said, "It's precisely because I'm resentful that I need to find a way to vent it out. If I keep hiding it in my heart, sooner or later Uncle will be unable to bear it."

  In the sixth month of summer, a refreshing breeze blew across the fields, and the millet branches hung down heavily, with a delightful appearance. He Yang Hou Liu Zhong carried an iron hoe out of the millet field, laughing and waving his hand from afar, shouting "Ying Zai Zi----" Suddenly remembering his nephew's current identity, he put down his hoe and bowed solemnly. "Your subject greets Your Majesty."

  "Second Uncle, please get up." Liu Ying hurried forward to support him. The cold wind blew his hair and clothes backwards as he stood up. He smiled and said, "I was in the city and heard people say that you were here, so I came over to take a look. How have you been?"

  "It's great." Liu Zhong said with a loud laugh, "Hey, being this Marquis is really good. In the past when I was at home, if it rained too much or too little in any year and the harvest wasn't good, we'd all be worried sick. Now, thanks to Your Majesty's blessing, even if there's no harvest, I still eat well and sleep soundly."

  As a noble lord, can he just not worry about the yield of his fields? Liu Ying was both angry and amused, looking around at the good fields, and asked, "How's the harvest on this land, Uncle?"

  "This... is hard to say." Liu Zhong rubbed his head, sighing in confusion, "A Yan's ghost ideas are many, these four or five years, following her method to toss and turn, the millet is not bad, but the corn is a bit worse. It's the same thing, using different methods, at different times, the yield is also different."

  "Ying'er," he said proudly, pointing to the vast expanse of millet fields in front of him, "can you see how much millet these fields will yield by autumn?"

  "There should be about seven or eight dan." Liu Ying hesitated for a moment, saying that during the Qin and Han dynasties, the yield per mu of land was as low as one dan, with some areas reaching four dan, and the average level was around three dan. The land given to his uncle by the emperor at that time was naturally good land. Looking at the lush millet in front of him, it seemed to be growing very well, so he estimated this number.

  "Not just that." Liu Zhong waved his hand and smiled, "Last year this field produced nine stones of millet."

  "Nine stones?" Even Fan Qiang, who was ignorant of farming matters, changed his expression upon hearing this number.

  "Yes." Liu Zhongxing said to Bo Bo, "And this year's growth is even better than last year. By autumn, there will definitely be more than this number. At that time, I'll harvest them and send a handful of millet to Chang'an for the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty to see at the beginning of next year."

  "Well," said Liu Ying with a smile, "I'll thank you first, Uncle."

  Zhang Yan missed her mother and brother, and was unwilling to stay in Xinfeng for long. She urged Liu Ying to return early. Liu Ying couldn't dissuade her, so they returned to Chang'an early.

  "What's wrong?" The carriage jolted along, Liu Ying looked at Zhang Yan with a slightly curious and suspicious gaze, and asked with a smile.

  "Aunt," Zhang Yan asked, "the fields of Second Uncle look like they're doing quite well."

  Liu Ying smiled, "Second Uncle has such a hobby, Father and I will let him be."

  It's really true. Zhang Yan picked up the water pear in the car and gnawed at it angrily. This emperor uncle of hers had no political sensitivity as an emperor at all.

  On this day, Liu Ying was in plain clothes and went out for a tour. He rode in an ordinary horse-drawn carriage commonly seen in the city. When they arrived at the Ba Bridge, there were many people on the bridge, so they stopped under the bridge to wait for a moment.

  Zhang Yan lifted the curtain and saw the familiar willows of Ba Bridge, feeling a thousand emotions at once.

  Suddenly, a hoarse old man's voice came from outside the car door, "I didn't expect to meet an old acquaintance again."

  Liu Ying lifted the curtain to look out, and saw that the approaching person was an old man with tattered clothes and a remarkable appearance. However, he had never seen this person before in his impression. "This old gentleman," he waved his hand to stop the guards from drawing their swords to drive away the newcomer, and smiled, "You must have mistaken me for someone else."

  "A noble person does not remember that I am from a humble place." Chi Mei Zi sighed and smiled, "In the past when I met you, you were placed on a ridge in the field by your mother, learning to speak with 'ga ga' sounds. Now you have grown up and become the master of the world."

  "Sir," Liu Yingdi's eyebrows and eyes showed a hint of hesitation. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he said, "Could it be that the person who told fortunes for my mother and me three years ago was actually you, sir?"

  In the past, when Emperor Gao was still a village chief in Pei County, Empress Lü would often take her two children to work in the fields. Since Liu Ying was still young, she would leave him on top of a mound. One day, an old man passed by and asked for food and drink. Empress Lü gave him some food. The old man then read their fortunes, saying, "You, madam, are a noble person." He then read the fortunes of the two children and saw Liu Ying, saying, "The reason you are noble is because of this son." He also read the fortune of Ruyi and found her to be noble as well. After the old man left, Liu Bang arrived from a nearby hut, and Empress Lü told him what had just happened. Liu Bang then chased after the old man, who said, "The fortunes I read for that lady and her children are all tied to you. Your nobility is beyond words." Liu Bang thanked the old man, saying, "It's true, as you said. I won't forget your kindness." By the time Liu Bang became Emperor Gaozu of Han, he had lost track of where the old man was.

  The old man smiled and nodded.

  Liu Ying's expression became increasingly solemn. "After our first meeting that year, my parents both felt grateful for your kindness, but unfortunately you disappeared like a mountain stream and we didn't know where to find you. Now that I've finally met you again, I'd like to invite you to ride together in the same carriage back home, so as to repay the kindness you showed my parents all those years ago."

  The old man nodded with a smile and said, "Destiny is predetermined by heaven, I'm just saying a word or two, I don't dare to claim credit. Let me take another look at you, to end the fate between us."

  He carefully looked at Liu Ying's face and smiled, "Excuse me for speaking bluntly, although you have the most noble appearance in the world, there is one thing that is not good."

  "Oh?" Liu Ying asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

  "When the Son of Heaven ascends to the throne, all under heaven avoid mentioning his name. If you were a rustic farmer, this avoidance would not affect yourself. However... as the saying goes, 'when full, then empty.' The old man shook his head and sighed, "Upon careful consideration, it indeed has an inauspicious meaning." "Then," Zhang Yan listened with unease and asked, "Is there a way to resolve it?"

  "Life is in heaven, but it's up to us." The old man smiled and said, "I can only read faces, not change them."

  "What you said makes some sense," came Liu Ying's faint voice as the carriage swayed slightly, "but since my name was given by my parents, I dare not refuse. Moreover," he smiled with a curved lip when the carriage entered Xuanping Gate, "at present, whether from the country or from myself, the word 'Ying' is still far from it."

  "It's all right." Chi Mei Zi sighed and said, "But this young lady," he turned to Zhang Yan, looked at her carefully, and said, "Her facial features are also noble."

  Zhang Yan did not expect him to turn his gaze on himself and was stunned for a moment.

  "This woman's nobility originated from Your Majesty, and one day she will have a relationship with you like Qin and Jin." She stared blankly.

  "Hahaha," Fan Jiong burst out laughing, "What a hermit, what a divine physiognomist. I think you're just a swindler who somehow got wind of the story between the late Emperor and Empress Dowager back in the day and came here to try your luck. Let's not even mention that Empress Dowager and Duke Cheng had planned to have Your Majesty marry Lady Lü after Your Majesty's mourning period, but how could you possibly marry Ah Yan when she is Your Majesty's niece?"

  Liu Ying's face also showed a mixture of sadness and anger, clearly disbelieving.

  "I don't care about worldly entanglements," said the old man. "I only look at physiognomy. Judging from physiognomy, it is indeed so."

  "Come on," Fan Jue said impatiently, "take this rascal away. He dares to deceive the Emperor himself, what a big nerve! I wonder," he sneered, "if you looked in the mirror before leaving home and saw that you would be in great danger today?"

  "There will be no great calamity, only some twists and turns," the old man said calmly. "I also see that this young general will have a difficult life ahead of him, though he won't lose his life, he'll still suffer greatly."

  "I'm too lazy to listen to your nonsense." Fan Jiong put down the curtain and turned back to see Zhang Yan's face turn pale.

  "Ah Yan," he advised kindly, "he's just a swindler, don't listen to his nonsense."

  "Hmm." Zhang Yan responded absent-mindedly, without even knowing what she had just said.

  "It's not the time, let it go." Liu Ying heard the sound of the guards being beaten outside and showed a face of unbearable pain, saying, "We are in plain clothes today, it's not suitable to make a big fuss."

  "But Your Majesty," Fan Tong disagreed, "this man dares to deceive you----"

  "Uncle is right," Zhang Yan suddenly jumped up and said, "Let's not kill anyone after all."

  "Alright." Fan Gong shrugged and said helplessly, "Your Majesty has given an order, how dare I not follow it?" He got up to instruct the release of the person.

  "I want to go home," Zhang Yan bowed her head and said quietly, "Uncle, can you take me home?"

  Liu Ying also felt slightly embarrassed, sighed and ordered the eunuch to rush to the Xuanping Marquis's residence.

  The sky had already darkened, and the carriage wheels had just stopped moving, when Zhang Yan hastily lifted the curtain and jumped down, but suddenly froze, standing still on the spot.

  A forty-five-year-old fat doll sat in front of the Hou Mansion gate.

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