son, stop

After cleaning up the courtyard under the waterfall, Zuo Lingquan and Wu Qingwan said goodbye and left the bamboo forest.

It was just noon, Zuo Lingquan finally arrived at Qihuang Valley, and he was not in a hurry to return to the capital. On the grounds that he was familiar with the environment, he asked Senior Sister Xiaohua to lead the way and walk around the Qihuang Valley.

Qihuang Valley is surrounded by mountains, and only the mouth of the valley allows people to enter and exit. The interior area is not small, about five miles in diameter.

According to Senior Sister Xiaohua, the biggest person in Qihuang Valley is the head of the sect, that is, the national teacher Yue Pingyang.There are five rooms, namely the sword room, the discipline room, the elixir room, the classics room, and the living room.

There are nearly 3000 disciples in Qihuang Valley, and the five masters must not be able to teach them. Therefore, there are several deacons under each of the five masters, who are responsible for managing the disciples and preaching.

After probably visiting the places that can be visited in Qihuang Valley, the sky gradually turned dark, a spring thunder resounded through the sea of ​​clouds, and fine spring rain fell again.

Zuo Lingquan has to go to Yuntai tomorrow to run for the consort. He needs to prepare in advance. He didn't stay for a long time. After thanking Senior Sister Xiaohua, he rode back to Donghua City.

In February, the spring rain is like crispy, and thousands of sails on the Bailu River gather together from the water gate of Linhefang.

After Zuo Lingquan entered the city gate, he happened to pass by Linhefang, and before having dinner on the way back, he directly entered the square gate and came to the outside of the Tang family restaurant.

In the evening, the light rain continued, and the light on Linhe Street was a little dim. The yellow wine flags swayed in the wind and rain. There were guests sitting on the four wine tables in the wine shop, and the old catcher Zhang, who I met yesterday, was also among them.

Zuo Lingquan stopped in front of the window when he saw that it was full of customers. From the window, he could see Tang Jing, dressed as a woman, sitting by the small stove to warm the wine.

Tang Jingxuan slept on the table for the night last night, and she didn't know if she didn't sleep well. She looked a little dizzy, and her chin was resting on her hands and listless.

Although I don't know Tang Jingxun's exact age, but judging from the face, it is about 25-[-]. The street dress of the pearl hairpin sarong does not conceal the tenderness in the bones, and the listless appearance at this time adds a bit of "sick wine" Waking up late, the lazy and beautiful taste of "lazy and lazy thrush" is completely different from yesterday's aggressive and talkative image, but it is equally attractive.

The restaurant was full, Zuo Lingquan wanted to leave silently, but wanted to say hello again before leaving.

After a moment of hesitation, Tang Jingxun didn't see him, and the catcher Zhang who was sitting at the wine table inside noticed him first:

"Oh, Mr. Zuo is here, come in quickly, Jingxun, don't doze off, the distinguished guest is here"

Tang Jingxuan turned her eyes when she heard the sound, and after seeing Zuo Lingquan at the window, her eyes lit up and she stood up:

"Little Zuo, why are you here again? No, what wind brought you here?"

Incoherent speech, apparently not awake.

Zuo Lingquan shook his head and smiled, put away his umbrella, leaned against the door, and entered the small restaurant:

"If you have nothing to do, come and sit."

Last night I helped the vigil, and I left without saying goodbye in the morning. I didn't forget to give the wine money. Tang Jingxun didn't say goodbye to thank you. I felt embarrassed and ran into the back room, saying:

"Young master, sit down first, haven't you eaten yet? I'll prepare wine and food for you."

There was no room in the restaurant, Zuo Lingquan took his sword and came to Lao Zhang's table to sit down, pushed the glass for a while and chatted for a while, then Tang Jingxuan came out with two plates of warm side dishes and put the wine on it. on the table.

Caught Kuai Lao Zhang knew that the food and drinks were for Zuo Lingquan, and he didn't mean to eat rice, so he picked up his saber and said goodbye:

"Young master, drink first, and I'll go out to patrol the streets."

After Zuo Lingquan said goodbye, he sat back at the wine table again, looking at the delicious side dishes in front of him, and said with a smile:

"There is Mrs. Laotang."

Tang Jingxuan took warm wine from the small stove, sat down directly beside Zuo Lingquan, and filled his wine bowl:

"What's the matter, you have to give money to eat, not to let you eat free food."

Zuo Lingquan took the wine bowl and put it in front of Tang Jingxing, and poured her a bowl of wine as well:

"I thought that with my friendship with Sister Tang, I could have a meal in vain."

Tang Jingxuan looked at the wine bowl in front of her, hesitated for a while, then picked it up and touched Zuo Lingquan, took a sip, and said softly:

"What kind of friendship, don't talk nonsense. There are some gossip women on the street who are the most annoying. They stare at other people's doors and gossip all day, for fear that nothing will happen to them."

When Tang Jingshen spoke, Qingli's brows showed annoyance, and her eyes were still aimed at the end of the street. Obviously, what she said meant something, not a casual complaint.

Zuo Lingquan thought for a while with the wine bowl in his hand, and suddenly remembered that when he left in the morning, there was a woman looking at him at the bun shop at the end of the street.

He put away the teasing on his face and asked:

"Could someone gossip about Sister Tang? When I left in the morning, it was already dawn, and I was in the bun shop at the end of the street"

"It's her."

Hearing this, Tang Jingxuan became hot when he rubbed it, and even raised his hand and patted Zuo Lingquan's arm:

"You know that I live alone in a woman's house. I drank wine all night. If I want to leave in the morning, I sneak away. I go out through the front door openly. You don't know. When I opened the door this morning, I saw that woman gossip. , and even came to ask me if I found a good friend.”

When Zuo Lingquan left in the morning, he really didn't think much of it, he said with a clear conscience:

"This is a wine shop. I'm here for a drink, and Sister Tang is innocent. If you want to go to the main entrance, there is no reason to be sneaky. Isn't that a thief with a guilty conscience?"

""

Tang Jing pondered for a while, and it seemed to be the same, and found the resentment on the woman again:

"That dead mother-in-law is my fourth uncle's concubine. She was originally a sister of Goulanyao. If she can't do anything else, she likes to hurt people behind her back."

Zuo Lingquan did not expect that the woman was still related to Tang Jingxuan, so it was difficult to answer for a while.

Tang Jingxuan and Zuo Lingquan complained, because they wanted Zuo Lingquan and her to scold each other for their lack of virtue, so they explained:

"My mother's surname is Chen, and the Chen family is considered a big family in the capital. Chen Maode, the inspector of the Censor Desk, is my second grandfather."

"Oh?"

Zuo Lingquan was a little surprised. He thought Tang Jingxuan was a lonely little family jasper, but he didn't expect that there were still people in the family who were officials in the court.

However, Tang Jingxun was not at all complacent about these relatives, and was even disgusted:

"Back then, my grandfather was the eldest of the Chen family and was in charge of the family's business. My grandfather owned more than a dozen shops in Linhefang. Unfortunately, my grandfather had only one daughter and no son. Later, my father went to Beijing to take the exam and met my mother. , the two became pro.

When I was born, there was an inexplicable fire, which almost destroyed half of Linhefang.

My name is 'Jingxu', because 'xuan' is a piece of wood bent by fire. Originally it was 'forbidden', but it was changed to what it is now for the sake of sound.

After the fire, my mother gave birth to me and I was frightened, and she left soon after; my father was sick because of this, and he also left before I could walk; I was taken by my grandparents, and I was okay at first , but since grandpa and grandma drove west of Hexi, everything has changed.

My second grandfather, Chen Maode, had several sons, but he didn't live up to his expectations.As soon as my grandfather left, the Chen family naturally took a fancy to my family's property, saying that my mother was a married woman with a foreign surname, and she wanted to take back the property.

I was unwilling, so I went to sue the official, and the government was not easy to manage, because the industry was indeed the ancestral business of the Chen family; later, Lao Zhang couldn't stand it anymore, so he went to the chief officer of the arrest department to come forward and make peace.

The official said, my mother is from the Chen family. Even if I don’t believe in Chen, I still have the blood of the Chen family. I am not married and have no elders. .

The chief officer of the arrest department, the official is older than the Chen family, so the Chen family dared not come and seize it, but they were still shameless behind the scenes. Since I was 14 years old, they have been arranging marriages for me everywhere, wanting me to marry, so that it is logical to occupy the property up.

These properties belong to my grandfather and my mother, why give them?So I will not marry, and I will guard these properties even if I die.”

These grievances have been held in Tang Jingxun's heart for many years, holding a small wine bowl and rambling, saying that her eyes were red in the end.

Zuo Lingquan listened carefully, and gradually understood Tang Jingshen's situation, and also had shame and contempt for the Chen family:

"This Chen family is really not a thing. It blatantly eats everything and is not afraid of retribution."

"I'm a granddaughter, so Li won't be on my side. What can I do? I'm exhausted with them anyway, so I won't marry. Anyway, I'm young, and they will die first when I die."

At sunset, the riverside street is full of pedestrians.

Tang Jingxuan confided in the restaurant, Zuo Lingquan sat next to him and listened carefully.

Neither of them noticed that a black-covered boat floated by the river outside the door, and two pairs of eyes protruded from the boat's canopy.

"It's that kid. I saw him come out of Tang Jingxun's room with my own eyes this morning."

In the awning of the boat, the woman selling buns in the morning, carefully hiding her bloated figure, spoke to the middle-aged man next to her:

"Tang Jingxun must have a man. Let's call the Chen family brothers over and catch him now. I'll see if she has any reason not to return the deed of the house."

The middle-aged man is the fourth child of the Chen family. He has been wandering in the capital all year round. No matter how ignorant he is, he has some good eyesight. He didn't listen to the woman's instigation.He narrowed his triangular eyes, and carefully looked at Zuo Lingquan in the wine shop:

"This kid seems to be wearing Yun Zhongjin's robe. If you look at the quality, let's talk about a hundred taels. The family must be rich or expensive. Do you know your identity?"

Yesterday, the beast riot was so serious, the middle-aged woman was on the street, she knew it, and she quickly said:

"I heard people say that he seems to be a relative of the servant of the Ministry of Rites, what is his name Zuo Lingquan?"

The corner of Chen Laosi's eyes twitched, and the idea of ​​running to the door to catch the current disappeared immediately, cursing:

"You stupid woman, the third-grade servant of the Ministry of Rites, is older than my father, how dare you make trouble?"

"The official university can't be unreasonable. This is the property of my Chen family. It's already showing kindness after she gets married. Now that she has a man, she still doesn't pay back the deed of the house. Isn't that shameless?"

Chen Lao Si waved his hand, telling the woman to stop making noise, and thought about it carefully:

"The Zuo Shilang is an important minister in the court, and I heard that his family is very good. The mansion in the capital is bigger than the prime minister's house. If the son of this family marries a wife and takes concubines, the bride price will not be stingy."

"It means not to make trouble, come to the door and say that the matchmaker will match the two of them?"

"As long as Jingxu gets married, the property will naturally be recovered, and my Chen family can also get a betrothal gift. Why kill two birds with one stone?"

Chen Lao Si thought about it for a while and felt that this was a good idea, so he didn't stop there, and let the boatman dock and get off the boat:

"I'm going to talk to my father right now. To choose a son-in-law tomorrow, all the officials have to go to Yuntai. It just so happens that I have a private chat with Zuo Shilang about this matter. Are you sure they slept all night last night?"

"It's true, I watched that kid come out in the morning, and even raised his pants."