Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

The remaining red faded, the green deepened, and summer came unknowingly.

"I know, I know, I know——"

Outside the gate of Cuiweiju in the afternoon, two tender-faced young slaves, one green and one blue, were holding bamboo poles and fishing nets, tilting their heads back to catch the noisy and restless cicadas on the branches.

But the cicadas flew high and the shade of the trees was dense, so the two men worked hard for a while and sweated all over, but they only caught a few lonely and skinny old cicadas, and they didn't even fill the bottom of the bamboo cage around their waists.

"Hoo! Brother Zhou'er, it's too hot, let's take a break." The younger slave, who was wearing a green shirt, suddenly threw the bamboo pole in his hand to the ground, sat down on the ground in a deflated manner, and pulled his sleeves to fan himself.

"Don't be lazy, or Brother Guancen and the others will see you and scold you again." The little slave called Brother Zhou'er also had his face flushed with heat, but he just pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead, then continued to look up to look for the deafening cicadas among the branches and leaves.

"You can scold me all you want, but I'm too hot to have any strength anyway." The little slave kicked his legs to the ground and complained in a rough voice.

"It's so hot, they, the first-class slaves, can have a nap in the master's room with ice, or at least stay in the room to avoid the sun. But we have to catch cicadas under the scorching sun, and we are half-burned. It's like our lives are not worth living."

Zhou Er heard that he didn't know the taboos in his words, and couldn't help but frowned. He stopped what he was doing and scolded him, "You have been in the mansion for half a year, and you are becoming more and more unruly. You always talk about death, life and death. If your husband hears you, he will definitely give you a good beating."

Seeing that the young servant still looked dissatisfied, Zhou Er continued, "Besides, we have only been in the mansion for a short time. Aren't these tasks like sweeping, running errands, catching insects and passing messages something that should be done by us, the menial servants? Why is your life at stake?"

The little slave got angry after being reprimanded by him so mercilessly. He got up from the ground and said sarcastically, "I just complained a little, but you have ten great principles to scold me."

"Guan Cen and the others took advantage of my husband's love and deceived the lower ones and the upper ones. These past few days, I have been forced to do nothing but eat and sleep. I have been bullied like this, and I can't even say anything?"

"You like to flatter them, go ahead and flatter them. I don't want to swallow my anger like this. Even if I make a scene in front of my husband today, they will still be unreasonable."

Zhou Er didn't expect his reaction to be so strong. He was about to make a scene. His face changed and he lowered his voice and pulled his sleeve. "What are you yelling about? If you really wake up my husband, you will suffer the consequences."

"What are you afraid of? Guan Cen and the others are unreasonable anyway. If we really wake you up, you can come and judge for us how they are bullying us." Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the little slave was not afraid at all. Instead, he put his hands on his waist and became more excited.

Hearing what he said, Zhou Er wanted to reach out and cover his mouth, but at this moment, an angry voice suddenly sounded behind them, "You good Liu Er, you bastard, who are you going to seek justice from!"

The two who were stumbling over each other were startled when they heard the words. They turned around hurriedly and saw that the door of the gate was half open. A green figure stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at them. Who else could it be but Guan Cen with that cold look on his face.

Inside Cuiwei Residence, Changsun Yan was sleeping uneasily with a frown on his face. Moreover, he heard bursts of noisy sounds between half asleep and half awake, as if someone was arguing at the top of their lungs. The sound came near and far, causing his eyebrows to twitch.

In a daze, he woke up with a frown, looked at the ice mirror in the corner that was emitting a hint of cold air, and listened attentively for a moment, only then was he sure that the sound was indeed coming from his yard.

"Guan Cen, Guan Lan, what's going on outside?" After confirming that there was indeed a quarrel, Changsun Yan subconsciously called Guan Cen to inquire about the situation.

But after waiting for a while, not only did he not hear any response from Guan Cen Guan Lan, the quarrel outside the room seemed to be getting more and more intense. Chang Sun Yan couldn't help but sigh, and holding his forehead which was aching slightly after being woken up, he slipped out of the room to check the situation.

Outside the courtyard gate, the slaves of Cuiwei Residence had gathered in a group, trying frantically to separate the two people who were fighting inside.

Guan Cen's hair was mostly disheveled, and his clothes were torn askew. He looked rather disheveled, but he was merciless. He slapped Liu'er's red and swollen face hard, and said angrily, "You little bastard, you are so rebellious. When your brother Guan Cen was fighting with others, you were still nursing in your father's arms!"

Liu'er is only twelve years old this year, a head shorter than Guan Cen, but he is not afraid of fighting at all. He took the slap from Guan Cen without saying a word, but bit Guan Cen's arm.

The summer shirt was thin, and he was trying very hard. Guan Cen was not paying attention and was bitten by him. He screamed in pain. He slapped him several times and pinched his jaw before forcing him to loosen his teeth.

"Who are you to bully me! You make me bask in the sun in such hot weather! And you sleep comfortably!" Even though his chin was grabbed, Liu'er did not give up the resistance. Instead, he glared with bloodshot eyes and shouted incoherently.

"Brother Guan Cen, please talk nicely and don't use force."

"Liu'er, are you going to rebel? How dare you bite me!"

"Keep your voices down, or you'll wake up my husband."

Guan Cen and Liu'er were both unwilling to give in to each other, and the slaves watching could only try to persuade them to reconcile. No one noticed Changsun Yan who walked behind them.

"What are you doing?" Changsun Yan looked at the slaves sitting in a group in front of him, closed his eyes, and said helplessly.

Everyone was shocked when they heard the words and turned around to see Changsun Yan with an unhappy expression. They were immediately startled and knelt on the ground in panic, revealing Guan Cen and Liu'er who were surrounded in the innermost part.

The two people who were entangled glared at each other fiercely, reluctantly let go of their hands, and knelt down.

"So who can tell me what happened that led to you having a fight here?" Looking at the two men with disheveled clothes and bruised faces, Changsun Yan's face suddenly darkened and he spoke in a cold voice.

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"Brother Zhou'er and I don't know how we have offended Brother Guancen. He has been picking on us these days."

"Not only did he keep us busy during the day, but at night he would ask for water and get up from time to time, and he also asked me and Brother Zhou'er to take turns fanning him without a break..."

In Cuiweiju, Liu'er, with a swollen and purple face, was tearfully complaining to Changsun Yan, who was sitting there, about Guan Cen's suppression and injustice towards him and Zhou'er.

Chang Sun Yan half-closed his eyes, leaned back in the armchair, and supported his forehead with his hand. After listening to his crying quietly, he turned his gaze to Zhou Er, who looked terrified, and said lightly, "Is what he said true?"

Zhou'er glanced at Liu'er who looked angry, then glanced at Guan Cen who remained silent. After considering for a moment, he spoke carefully, "Brother Guan Cen has indeed assigned us more work these days, but it's not..."

"Then it must be true." Chang Sun Yan interrupted him and looked at Guan Cen and asked, "Why?"

Seeing Changsun Yan looking at him, Guan Cen pursed his lips, revealing a somewhat disdainful expression, and rolled his eyes at Liu Er, "No reason, it's just that I can't stand them both."

"Tell the truth." He pretended to be vicious, but Changsun Yan saw through his lies at a glance. He glanced at him indifferently and said in a deep voice.

"Slave, I am telling the truth. This Liu'er is a talkative person who always likes to be sneaky and cunning. I have long been fed up with him, so I assigned him more work. Who would have thought that he would be so shameless and make a scene..."

Guan Cen was a little hesitant at the beginning, but became more fluent as he spoke further. However, after receiving a cold glance from Changsun Yan, he gradually lowered his voice.

Chang Sun Yan was having a severe headache right now. Seeing that he was unwilling to tell the truth, he did not want to argue with him in detail. He waved his hand and said coldly, "Liu Er has been making trouble and stirring up trouble. He will be slapped in the face twenty times and sold out. Zhou Er will be fined for half a year and sent to Manager Song to be taught the rules before he can come back."

"As for you—" Changsun Yan glanced at Guan Cen, who was biting his lips and looking at him stubbornly, and turned his head away, "You bully the people below you, speak evil words, and hurt people. Go kneel in the yard and stand up when you have figured it out."

"My dear! My dear, I was wrong! Please spare my life, I will never dare to do it again!"

The first one to shout was Liu'er. Although he knew that he would be punished for fighting with Guan Cen today, he did not expect that Changsun Yan would directly sell him out. He did not even bother to defend himself and begged for mercy loudly.

But Changsun Yan just glanced at him coldly and waved his hand to signal the servants waiting outside the door to drag him away.

Liu'er was dragged away with his mouth covered. Zhou'er, who survived the disaster and was scared out of his wits, kowtowed hurriedly to express his gratitude. After all, compared to the outcome of being sold, the punishment of being fined for half a year and having to learn the rules again could be considered quite mild.

As for Guan Cen, his eyes turned red the moment he heard about the punishment given to him by Changsun Yan, but he walked to the yard and knelt down without saying a word, without any intention of saying a word to defend himself.

Looking at his stubborn look, Changsun Yan felt that his headache seemed to be getting worse. Seeing that he would rather lie in the sun than tell the truth, he couldn't help but get angry. He simply asked someone to close the door so that he wouldn't be annoyed and fell asleep with the headache.

When he woke up again, the sun was setting. Looking at the afterglow shining on the window lattice, Changsun Yan's heart tightened. He thought of Guan Cen who was punished by him to kneel in the yard. He hurriedly got off the couch, opened the door and looked into the yard.

But the yard was empty, and there was no sign of Guan Cen. Just as he was wondering, Guan Lan's voice, slightly surprised, suddenly sounded, "My dear, are you awake?"

He turned his head and saw Guanlan walking towards him at the corner of the corridor holding a bowl. Looking at the unfamiliar clothes on him, Changsun Yan realized that Guanlan had gone home to visit his relatives in the past two days. He was drowsy at noon and had forgotten about this matter.

"Where is Guan Cen?" Changsun Yan nodded and asked.

"That idiot fainted from the heat. I've asked the court doctor to see him, and he said he'll be fine after two days of rest." Guan Lan walked to Chang Sun Yan and gave him a reproachful look, "He's fine, but you, my dear, are too careless. Don't you even know you have a fever?"

"Fever?" Changsun Yan was stunned when he heard that, and subconsciously reached out to his forehead, but Guanlan held his hand and pulled him into the house.

"Although it's hot now, it's just the beginning of summer after all. There's no need for so much ice. This room is as cold as an ice cellar, how can it not be hot?" Guanlan blew on the medicine bowl in his hand and handed it to Changsun Yan.

Changsun Yan took it, frowned and tested the temperature, then tilted his head back to drink it. Guanlan handed him the candied fruit on the table, but he waved his hand to indicate that he didn't want it.

"It's just as the court doctor said. My dear, you're suffering from lovesickness. Now you can't taste the food, and even the medicine doesn't taste bitter."

Chang Sun Yan was wiping his mouth with a handkerchief when he heard Guan Lan say this. His hands froze and he asked uncertainly, "What?"

"I heard that when the court doctor examined you just now, I told her in detail about your recent diet and daily routine, and the court doctor said that you were suffering from lovesickness!"

Seeing her husband's eyes suddenly widen, Guanlan repeated it again while holding back her laughter, then began to repeat the court doctor's words with her head shaking in a serious manner.

"This lovesickness, if it is cured by pharmacology, it is not difficult. It is just to boil three grams of sour jujube seeds, one gram of Anemarrhena asphodeloides, one gram of Poria cocos, one gram of Chuanxiong, and half a gram of licorice, and take it. This will nourish the blood and calm the mind, clear away heat and relieve worries. But if it is cured by reason, then it has to be--"

At this point, Guanlan drew out her tone, glanced at her husband meaningfully, then chuckled and said in a low voice: "The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it!"

"My dear, if Lord Lin knew that you were sick and tossing and turning because of missing her, he would definitely be very distressed, right?"

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