No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 721 Let's go home with a clean conscience

"Xiu Niang, would you like me to draw your eyebrows for you tomorrow?

"Uh, you don't want me to draw? Do you want to give me a little surprise? What's so surprising about this? We've seen a lot...

"Okay, it's just a small surprise. Let Thirteenth Lady help you tomorrow. She's a woman too. You can just put on some light makeup. No need to be too formal. We're all family. Let's have dinner together tomorrow night. You can do whatever you want...

"Okay, sure. Do you want to be a little more serious and leave a good impression on your aunts? Well, actually, the impression is already very good, but you, the embroiderer, just don't know it..."

In the quiet courtyard, inside the main wing.

Zhao Qingxiu was sitting on an embroidered stool beside her boudoir, her little head, which was wearing a sky-blue satin ribbon, lowered as her deft hands folded clean clothes.

Ouyang Rong sat on the side somewhat casually, with his head supported by one hand and his elbow against the bed.

Chatting casually with the embroiderer.

Tomorrow is Zhen Shuyuan’s birthday, and it is also the last day of Ouyang Rong’s vacation. After two or three consecutive days of vacation, he feels a little more relaxed, or in other words, he has less of the so-called “sense of duty” in his previous life.

On the embroidery stool, Zhao Qingxiu's blindfolded little face showed a look of concentration as she was seriously doing the chores of daily life of folding clothes.

She would pull her hand away from time to time, dip it in a bowl of water prepared on the table next to her and write. Ouyang Rong answered with a smile for a while.

If outsiders didn't know, they would think he was talking to himself, but only Ouyang Rong knew that this was the way he and the embroiderer usually interacted.

Here, Ouyang Rong unconsciously spoke more.

Seems lively.

At the moment, Zhao Qingxiu was folding some men's clothes, belonging to Ouyang Rong.

The two items that Ah Qing sent from Longcheng a few days ago were also among them.

The little girl knew the size of her sworn brother Ouyang Rong very well, and for some reason, she always got it just right. The embroidered Confucian shirt was neither loose nor tight, and Ouyang Rong felt very comfortable wearing it. However, perhaps he had worn it so many times that he was used to it, except for the last time when he wore the clothes sewn by his junior sister, and then he realized how good his junior sister's craftsmanship was, but of course he couldn't say this.

In fact, Zhao Qingxiu also made clothes for Ouyang Rong, sewing them stitch by stitch, and she did not stop even now that she was blind.

At this moment, she was quiet, folding Ouyang Rong's clothes for a while, and then neatly stacked them on the bed.

Zhao Qingxiu stretched out her small hand, pulled out a new Confucian shirt sewn by Ah Qing, and stroked it quietly.

She went to write:

[Tan Lang, what color is this dress?]

Ouyang Rong replied: "The moon is white."

Zhao Qingxiu put down the robe, took out a second Confucian robe and gestured to him.

Ouyang Rong took a look and it seemed to be sewn by Ah Qing as well.

【What about this one】

"Blue," he replied.

Zhao Qingxiu tilted her head slightly, as if thinking for a while, and wrote:

[What kind of clothes does Sister Xie like to wear on a daily basis? And what about Wei Lai and the others?]

Ouyang Rong thought for a while and replied:
"Junior sister likes red, and Wei Lai likes to wear pink and white recently. She always thinks she is too white and wants to tone it down.

"Aunt is an elder, so she prefers dark and conservative colors. She wears blue, black, and red. Recently, Ah Qing gave her a festive red shawl, and she likes it very much..."

[Are there other sisters?]

Ouyang Rong's forehead darkened when he heard this. He licked his lips and said:
"Xiuniang, what are you thinking about in your little head? What other sisters? Who else could there be in the family besides them? I've told you many times, but you just don't believe it, right?"

Zhao Qingxiu wiped off the wet marks on the table with her little hands and rewrote the previous paragraph, changing the wording:
[Apart from Sister Xie and Wei Lai, which other women will be attending Aunt Tan Lang’s birthday party tomorrow night?]

Ouyang Rong shook his head:

"There will be some, but you don't have to worry about them. They are all outsiders. I will handle it. You don't have to care about their opinions."

Just as Ouyang Rong finished answering, he found that the pretty girl in front of him with her head tilted stuffed the stack of green Confucian robes into his arms.

"what?"

Zhao Qingxiu smiled and wrote: [Okay, Tan Lang, just wear this one]

"now?"

[Of course it’s the birthday party tomorrow night]

Ouyang Rong then realized that the embroiderer was asking these questions because she was trying to match clothes for him.

"Wearing blue? Oh."

Ouyang Rong looked indifferent. He put away the green Confucian robe and took it back later. He would wear it tomorrow night.

Turning back, he asked:
"What does the embroiderer wear?"

Zhao Qingxiu lowered her head slightly, a little shy, and wrote four words:

[I wear plain white]

Ouyang Rong was curious: "Why are you wearing such plain clothes?"

Zhao Qingxiu didn't answer and continued to fold clothes.

Ouyang Rong suddenly realized something:
"I see. You wear white and I wear green. This is to show that there is nothing innocent between us, right? We are entering this marriage with a clean record."

"..."

The pretty girl who was folding clothes had a dazed look on her face.

Ouyang Rong nodded with satisfaction: "Lady Xiu is really thoughtful."

Zhao Qingxiu shook his head and waved his hands.

Ouyang Rong, however, continued to praise himself without blushing or getting nervous.

Zhao Qingxiu was helpless, her face blushed a little, she lowered her head and continued to fold her clothes virtuously.

Ouyang Rong suddenly said to the beautiful, intelligent, hardworking blind-mute girl in front of him with a serious face:
"In fact, embroiderers don't need to care about these little things. They don't need to wear such plain white clothes for fear of stealing their limelight... Hey, many women in the world want to dress conspicuously and beautifully to become the focus of the whole audience, but you are different. You dress as low-key as possible. Even if it's a very important day like tomorrow, you are still low-key and modest."

Zhao Qingxiu lowered her head and did not answer, her expression could not be seen clearly.

Ouyang Rong looked at her gentle face, reached out and touched her soft and thin cheek, gently lifted it up, and said very seriously:
"No matter how you dress, you will be the star tomorrow night. Everyone is watching you. There is no point in hiding..."

Zhao Qingxiu suddenly reached out and covered Ouyang Rong's mouth, shaking her head at him, as if begging him to stop talking out of shame.

Ouyang Rong pursed his lips.

He lowered his eyes to look at the blue scholar's robe in his arms and continued:

"Ah Qing is in Longcheng and can't come. I'll wear the clothes you made instead of hers."

Ouyang Rong had told Zhao Qingxiu about Ah Qing before, and she knew that he had such a sister.

Zhao Qingxiu shook her head upon hearing this, and wrote with concentration on her face:

[Wear sister A Qing's, her hand-sewing is better than mine, I can't see, so I can't sew as well as her, she is amazing, she is so young, but she has such great skills, Tan Lang, let's wear hers]

Ouyang Rong blinked and asked, "Ah Qing, do you have some of the skills you had when you were a child?"

Zhao Qingxiu smiled but did not answer.

Ouyang Rong silently looked at the kind-hearted blind and mute girl in front of him for a while.

Watching her quietly packing up clothes and the house.

There seems to be a sense of peace in the chest.

He didn't know how long he had been busy, but when Ouyang Rong saw Zhao Qingxiu stand up and run to the kitchen, he followed her.

Actually, he shouldn't have come here today, or rather, he shouldn't have stayed too long. He should have spent more time with Zhen Shuyuan and Xie Lingjiang. After all, the former was the birthday girl, and he finally had a vacation, so he had to stay at the Huaiye Lane mansion and spend more time with her. This is the universal filial piety today.

However, Ouyang Rong couldn't help but come over. He was used to worrying and was always a little worried, so he wanted to come over and take a look.

Fortunately, Zhen Shuyuan understood him very well and didn't say anything. She just asked him to go home for dinner tonight and be back before 2:15 am on the 14th of the lunar calendar and not to be late.

Tomorrow is her birthday, and some relatives from Nanlong will arrive this afternoon, including the head of the Nanlong Ouyang clan and several elders, as well as relatives from my aunt's family, the Zhen clan...

Ouyang Rong needs to entertain people as the young male host of the family. Anyway, the closer it is to the birthday party, the busier he is.

In this agricultural era, the countryside was not considered a dilapidated, despised, or avoidable place, and there was no such word as "country bumpkin".

There are four classes: scholars, farmers, workers and merchants. Farmers have a relatively high status, while merchants are considered to be of low status. Rulers of all dynasties have emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce.

Therefore, returning home in glory is actually a great honor. No matter how successful your career is or how high your official position is, when you are old and beg for bones, you will most likely return to your hometown and live out your retirement in leisure. Being able to make a humble family rise to become an aristocratic family with one's own efforts is already the pinnacle of personal influence... unless you are so awesome that you break through the ceiling, reach the sky, get the title of king, and have your entire family promoted.

Currently, Ouyang Rong is promoted to the position of scholar of Xiuwenguan and acting governor of Jiangzhou. He is already a well-known figure in his hometown of Nanlong. Although he was already a scholar famous in the surrounding area before, he has now reached a higher level. He is a tough character rarely seen in Nanlong County in the past ten years and is well-known in the whole state of Luling.

You should know that the scholars in Luling are very competitive. It is said that there is a Jinshi every ten miles, which is well-known in the whole Jiangnan Road. It is also the "recruitment ground" that the Bai Ludong Academy values ​​very much. Farming and studying to pass on the family is just the standard configuration of ordinary families in Luling.

In every Luoyang imperial examination, there were only a few vacancies for Jinshi from the south, but there was almost always one position occupied by a scholar from Luling, which was almost like a minimum living allowance. It seemed that someone had quite a few fellow townsmen in the court.

Ouyang Lianghan, a former scholar, was born in an atmosphere of "everything is inferior except reading". He was raised by Zhao's mother and Zhen Shuyuan. He fought his way out of this hellish study environment. He was also the king of small papers in Luling that year, and later became the third place in the imperial examination in the first year of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Therefore, now that Ouyang Rong is governing Jiangzhou, he is most dissatisfied with the state and county schools which are half-dead and have difficulty producing Jinshi. Perhaps because of the developed water transportation, most of the young people in Jiangzhou seem to like to engage in business.

Of course, it is not ruled out that there were too many people demoted to Jiangzhou by the imperial court, and the common people felt that there seemed to be no need for internal competition to become officials. After all, the end point of a large number of demoted officials was their starting point... It's so funny.

No matter what, Ouyang Rong is now the most prominent figure in the Nanlong Ouyang clan. On his aunt Zhen Shuyuan's birthday, clan leaders and elders came to celebrate, which was a grand occasion.

But Ouyang Rong discovered that there was still one family missing, the Nanlong Zhao family, where Ouyang Rong's mother came from. He had asked Zhen Shuyuan a few days ago if he wanted to invite someone from the Nanlong Zhao family to come over, but Zhen Shuyuan rejected it outright. He didn't know why...

Come to the kitchen.

Ouyang Rong saw Zhao Qingxiu making soup with her back to him.

He walked over, took a look, and saw some herbs floating in the pot. The soup was milky white, similar to fish soup.

This seems to be called something like Sanbai Beauty Soup, which contains Chinese herbal medicines such as Atractylodes macrocephala, White Poria cocos, White Peony Root and Licorice, hence the name "Sanbai".

These herbs were bought by Ouyang Rong when she accompanied the embroiderer a few days ago. She said that the recipe for the Three Whites Beauty Soup was taught to her by the Taoist priest Sun. This medicinal food can regulate the spleen and stomach and can whiten women's skin. It just happened to be used this time.

Ouyang Rong looked at the medicinal soup that was being boiled with curiosity.

This is one of the birthday gifts that Xiu Niang will give to her aunt tomorrow night. At that time, she will also cook a bowl of hot longevity noodles and bring it to the Huaiye Lane mansion to honor her aunt.

Zhao Qingxiu checked the soup making process, then turned around and returned to the main room, with Ouyang Rong following behind.

After returning to the room, Zhao Qingxiu took an unfinished embroidery from the bedside and lowered her head to continue sewing stitch by stitch.

Ouyang Rong took a look and it looked like a small blue sachet.

He walked around the room and found a brand new wooden box on the embroiderer's dressing table, which looked like it was used to store jewelry.

Ouyang Rong walked over and opened the brocade box a little. Just as he took a look, he heard Zhao Qingxiu's "Ahhh" from behind. He withdrew his hand and returned as if nothing had happened.

Just now I only saw a hint of white, like a white jade hairpin.

Ouyang Rong suddenly remembered that the embroiderer seemed to have said that she would prepare gifts for the junior sister and Wei Lai respectively.

I don’t know who the blue sachet and white jade hairpin were given to.

Ouyang Rong couldn't help but think of his junior sister, Wei Lai, and his aunt. They all mentioned that they also wanted to give the embroiderer a gift, but they didn't tell him what they wanted to give...

"Why are you so nervous..."

Ouyang Rong shook his head.

After accompanying him for a while, seeing that it was getting dark, Ouyang Rong said goodbye and left.

Before leaving, he gave a warning:
"Xiu Niang, have a good rest tonight. I may be a little busy tomorrow. Let Shisan Niang accompany you and pick you up in the evening..."

"Uh-huh."

After giving the instructions, Ouyang Rong picked up the bag containing the blue Confucian robe and strode out.

Before getting on the carriage, he looked back.

Zhao Qingxiu, who was seeing him off, stood in front of the door with her slender figure, holding the door with both hands.

The red walls of the courtyards on both sides make her graceful figure in her white dress look serene, ethereal and charming.

Ouyang Rong smiled and waved his hand.

"Go back to the house."

Zhao Qingxiu stood on tiptoe, holding the door with one hand, and waved at him with the other hand, slightly opening her mouth:
"Ah."

It seemed like he was reminding him to be careful on the road.

Ouyang Rong didn't look back, as he was a decisive person.

He stepped onto the carriage as light as a swallow, leaving the reluctant blind and mute girl at the door. Then the blind and mute girl was gently held hand and comforted by Pei Shisan Niang, who replaced Ouyang Rong, and led into the house.

On the way back, Ouyang Rong routinely found Yan Liulang and asked about the situation.

The news that the thin-faced man named Qian Chen was found in Guanyin Temple had been brought to Xunyang Palace by Ouyang Rong.

Li Xian, Li Guoer and others breathed a sigh of relief after knowing this. This indirectly confirmed the guess they had made during their previous discussion.

Yan Liulang reported skillfully, and there was no important news.

However, Ouyang Rong estimated that Duan Quanwu should have returned with half of his soldiers from Hukou County.

According to the fastest route, even if they took the water route, they would not arrive in Jiangzhou until the morning of the 15th, which would be after the 14th birthday ceremony.

At least there is no need to worry during this day.

What's more, Ouyang Rong had already informed Lu Ya in advance that this young Taoist priest with expressionless face would also come back with Duan Quanwu and others.

With Lu Ya watching over it, there shouldn't be any problems. Even if there are accidents, at least they can be reported immediately.

As his thousands of thoughts came together, Ouyang Rong looked straight ahead and rubbed his face hard.

……

(End of this chapter)