bookcurios Chapter 37
Chapter 37
In the late spring of March, the cherry blossoms and weeping peaches along the Zhuo River bloom into a sea of pink and white flowers.The bright color burned all the way from the branches to the river, and the falling flowers covered almost the entire river surface, forming a fragrant mat.
The painted boats pass through the petal river, with pearl curtains hanging down.Sitting on the bow of the boat was a delicate and charming girl in spring clothes, with crescent eyebrows and a pair of seductive eyes with all kinds of charms, with wet black hair swaying to the ground, and even a pair of snow-white and small jade bows were bare under her skirt.
Sitting in the painting boat, Bie Chufu covered his face with a fan, listening to the girl's sandalwood a cappella, and couldn't help beating the beat on the small table with her crisp voice.
"How about Shizhen's singing?" Another young man in a jade-colored robe pushed aside the screen and sat cross-legged at the other end of the table and asked with a smile.
As soon as the fan closed, Bie Chufu smiled and said slightly: "Of course it's good. But when are you interested in listening to music?"
"Why not? For me, a carefree half-immortal, wine and poetry are the only things I can't bear in this world." The young man laughed.
Bie Chufu glanced at him amusedly, noncommittal.
The young man picked up the bottle full of wine on the table, sniffed it lightly, took a sip, and said, "Well, this year's Rouge wine is not bad."
Bie Chufu also raised the wine cup, and gestured to the girl at the bow of the boat: "Miss Shizhen, why don't you come in the boat and have a drink together?"
When Shizhen heard this, she lowered her head slightly, revealing soft eyebrows, and her voice was like a yellow warbler: "Thank you, my lord, Shizhen is too strong to drink, so I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you. Please let me have a drink with the half-immortal."
"Don't try to recruit her, I'm afraid Shizhen will fly up the branches and become a phoenix in a short time." The young man smiled and drank the rouge wine in his glass in one gulp.
Bie Chufu was a little startled, and asked in a low voice, "Juetangzi, what do you mean by that?"
Juetangzi licked his lips, the faint sunlight hit his face, he had a pair of affectionate smiling eyes, and he was looking at Bie Chufu at this moment and said: "We are not the only ones who love to listen to music in this world, the palace There are quite a few too."
"Ke Shizhen was born in a fireworks place, and even a famous prostitute in Daqi, this is also..." Bie Chufu couldn't believe it.
Before Juetangzi could speak, Shizhen's exclamation and the sound of falling into the water came from outside. The two of them looked serious, opened the bead curtain and rushed out to have a look——
"Listen alone!"
Bie Chufu had a gloomy face, staring at his apprentice who was struggling to lift Shizhen out of the deep water.
Leng Duting managed to carry Shizhen onto the boat, but he was still floating in the water.He wiped his wet face, and the young man's handsome face was covered with drops of water.His face was like a jade crown, with sword eyebrows and star eyes, and the cinnabar on his forehead added a touch of color to him out of thin air.
"Master..." Leng Duting's tone was a little uneasy.
Bie Chufu shook his head, put the fan back into the skirt of his clothes, pointed his toes, flew across the water in an instant, grabbed Leng Duting's collar and swung away: "Apologize to Miss Shizhen for me, and come to visit another day, see you later .”
Juetangzi clicked his tongue, took off his outer robe and put it on the shivering Shizhen: "Shizhen, I'll take you home."
Looking at the rippling surface of the water because of being stepped on by Bie Chufu, he frowned and muttered: "Having a friend like you really hurts my Dongzhou Youke's face."
All the way back to the residence in a hurry, as soon as Bie Chufu fell to the ground, Leng Duting was thrown to the ground by him.
"What's the matter with you?" Bie Chufu suppressed his anger and asked sharply while sitting on a rolling stone.
Leng Duting knelt on the ground and said in a low voice: "The disciple is only flying with the sword...Unexpectedly, he is not good at learning and bumped into Miss Shizhen..."
Bie Chufu said with a headache: "You are already 17 years old, why can't you even learn how to fly with the sword?"
"It's my disciple's fault, master please punish me." Leng Duting bent down and kowtowed.
The door of the mansion quietly opened a small crack, the black-haired boy poked his head in to inspect it, and squeezed in cautiously.
Bie Chufu had noticed it the moment he opened the door, and it wasn't until the boy tiptoed to a big tree not far from Juanshi that he said, "Xiao Mu, don't hide."
Mu Ruhang was so frightened that he almost fell down!
"Hmm...don't be uncle, I'm here to find Leng Duting." Mu Ruhang came out from under the tree, saw Leng Duting was kneeling on the ground, and screamed in his heart that he had made a mistake.
Bie Chufu glanced at him: "You really know how to pick your time, kid." He leaned on the rolling stone and said lazily, "Hurry up and get angry when I see you."
Hearing the words, Mu Ruhang felt as if he had received an amnesty, and hurried over to pull Leng Du to listen: "Ah Leng, don't uncle let you go."
Leng Duting bit his lip and remained motionless, looking at Bie Chufu persistently.
"It's so stubborn! Let's go, let's not blame you." Bie Chufu said impatiently.The fan opened to cover the face.
"...Thank you, Master." Leng Duting was about to stand up when his legs suddenly softened, and Mu Ruhang quickly supported him.
The two breathed a sigh of relief when they came outside the mansion.
Mu Ruhang lifted up Leng Duting's trousers, only to see a hideous scar on his slender calf that was slowly oozing blood, and the surrounding skin had begun to turn white after being soaked in water.He said distressedly: "I'm sorry... If it wasn't for you and those bastards who are fighting swords..."
Leng Duting put down his trouser legs and said calmly: "It's nothing, don't blame yourself, it's because they bullied people too much."
"...Thank you." Mu Ruhang suddenly thought of something, and quickly took out a small bottle and handed it to him: "I asked for this from Master, it is very useful for stab wounds!"
"Well, thank you." Leng Duting took the medicine bottle and smiled at him.
The two sat on the stone bench under the tree, the fragrance of the medicine gradually came out as Leng Duting smeared it.Mu Ruhang tilted his head to look at his side face, the distinct long eyelashes formed strands of shadows on his face.
Leng Duting wiped the medicine, and handed the medicine bottle back to Mu Ruhang: "What the hell are you doing?"
"Ah? No." Mu Ruhang took the bottle and smiled.After a pause, he suddenly said: "Ah Leng, do you know that there is a new Home Thinking Garden opened in the city of glaze, which is very popular with literati. Several of my senior brothers have been there, and they say it is very good. Shall we go? Have a look there?"
Leng Duting only said: "If you want to go, I will accompany you."
"Okay!" Mu Ruhang smiled innocently.He looks rather thin, with thin eyebrows, eyes, nose and lips, but he has a head of radiant hair, which is usually not tied up, and it looks like he is crossing the clouds.
"Then I'll come to you again tonight." Mu Ruhang looked at the sky and apologized, "I sneaked out, if I don't go back, Master will punish me to kneel if I find out."
Leng Duting nodded understandingly: "Then I'll wait for you here tonight."
On the night more than 100 years ago, the moon was still as white as ever.A lamp was lit in front of the mansion, Leng Duting stood under the eaves, and after a while he saw Mu Ruhang running over panting.
"Let's go! I know the way!" Mu Ruhang said.
As the Flower God Festival is approaching, both sides of the street are filled with shrines in various shapes of flower tie, which contain statues of flower gods.The two walked through the sea of flowers and watched while walking, and they were also stained with some fragrance.
Siguyuan is a small five-story building with emerald and silver curtains hanging on the pavilion. The sound of silk and bamboo orchestras coming out of the building is pleasant to the ear, and the soft voice of the singing girl is the icing on the cake.
Mu Ruhang and Leng Duting walked side by side and entered the Garden of Thinking together.
Since it just opened, there are not many people.The first floor is a place for banquets, the second floor performs poetry and singing, the third floor performs singing and dancing legends, and the fourth and fifth floors are guest rooms.The two went to the second floor, picked a seat and sat down.
At this time, a girl with black hair reaching her ankles was holding a green jade pipa and playing on the stage. Her voice was deep and soft, with a peachy face.Mu Ruhang listened for a while, then said, "I'm going to the latrine."
Leng Duting was pouring tea, when he heard the words, he said, "Let's go together."
Heavy clouds dotted the dark sky like fish scales, the moonlight was faint, and the brilliance sprinkled coldly on the ground.
Under the hazy moonlight, both of them seemed to be covered with a layer of silver.
Mu Ruhang walked behind Leng Duting, looking at his tall and straight back, thinking that this person has always been so rigid and stubborn, suddenly wanted to tease him, so he jokingly said: "Ah Leng, what do you think of the girl on the stage just now?" how?"
"The sound of the piano is elegant and upright, and the singing is far away." Leng Du listened.
"Idiot, who told you this! I mean... Huh?" Mu Ruhang blinked and said, "Ah Leng, do you think there is someone over there?"
Both of them looked at the chashou veranda not far away, and there was a person with his back to them, sobbing softly on the railing.Judging by the slender figure, it was probably a girl.
"Go and have a look." Mu Ruhang pulled Leng Duting and walked over.
The girl just lay on the railing and wept, and didn't even react when they approached.Seeing this, Mu Ruhang asked aloud, "Girl, what's wrong with you?"
"Ah!" The girl raised her head in a panic, revealing a disheveled, tear-stained face with rare light gray eyes.It was only then that the two discovered that she still had blond curly hair, but it was cut short and looked nondescript.
Mu Ruhang sighed, "Are you from Ming Palace?"
Most people in Minggong Kingdom are blond and blue-eyed, and they are very different from Daqi in terms of ethnic group or customs.The country regards the peacock as a totem, and because the first peacock king was a woman, the status of women in the country is equal to that of men, or even slightly better.The atmosphere in the Ming Palace was open, and women could not only ascend the throne and proclaim themselves emperors, and enter the court as officials, but they could also wear clothes that exposed their arms or feet.Although the hair can be cut short, it is usually peasant girls or slaves who are bought and sold, and the upper class still regards long hair as beautiful.
Looking at the girl's short-cut hair, Mu Ruhang knew that she was a refugee who was sold from Ming Palace to Daqi.For the sake of the face of the two countries, Daqi's family of officials generally would not use them as servants. These people were either sold to Goulanyuan, or they could only work as coolies.
The girl rubbed her eyes and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry...I, I'm fine..." She still had a foreign accent, obviously she didn't speak Chinese very well.Behind her is a qin with a special shape, which can be seen from the Ming Palace.
Leng Duting asked, "Are you the luthier of Siyuanyuan?"
"Yes." The girl wiped away her tears and said with a slight smile, "I'm fine, Ma, I'm sorry to trouble you."
Mu Ruhang thought she was quite funny: "Don't bother you, just say thank you. What's your name?"
The girl picked up the piano and said, "Shahe. My name is Shahe."