Chapter 0——③Mortal Witch
This is an interesting story from many years ago. Although it tells about strange people and strange things, there are many conclusive facts in it.
It is said that it was the end of spring and the beginning of summer, and everything was in full swing. On the edge of the pond in the Qian family's residence, a long-bearded man wearing a gauze hat and dark gold casual clothes was facing the water, and he was spreading feed for the goldfish with his handle. Colorful fish gathered at his feet and put food into their mouths one after another; birds stopped on the short tree behind him, humming while pecking their wings; butterflies were sucking the stamens of flowers, and when the wind blew, Swinging from side to side with the small yellow-green flowers.
Everything was so beautiful and harmonious, except for the man who looked sad. He held on to the wooden railing, facing himself in the water, and chanted: "The sun dwells on the moon! The clouds fade away? The worry in my heart is like a bandit wearing clothes. I think about it quietly, but I can't fly."
"Ling Sheng! Are you so interested today?" A tall young man with white paper fan in hand, fair skin and elegant clothes came up and said: "I haven't read many poems in "Three Hundred Poems", but this is the only one. I have heard you recite this song more than once, brother, so what is there to worry about?"
"Ling Chong, you are so blessed that you don't know how blessed you are!" The long-bearded man stopped putting feed in his hands and looked at the surface of the pond, saying: "You can marry a woman who admires each other, and now the child She is about to be born. And in order to fulfill my filial duty, brother, I really can’t get rid of the ‘baby marriage’ that my father has arranged for me.”
"Ling Sheng, sister-in-law, aren't you still willing to let you take a concubine?"
The long-bearded man looked up to the sky and said, "How about it? Have you decided on the name of the child?"
The young master opened the fan, and there were four characters written on it: "A Perfect Match". He looked at it for a moment and suddenly said: "Since both of our brothers have 'yu' in their names, I hope my child will also be a person like jade." Brother, you call me 'Bi', and little brother, I will call you 'Ying', then I will call this child 'Xi'! What do you think, brother?"
Not long after the two brothers Gan Bi and Qian Ying chatted, a servant rushed from the stone gate and gasped: "Big... something bad has happened, Lord Gan! Madam... she has made trouble in the government office again!"
"What!" Gan Bi was shocked and hurriedly walked back to the house to change his clothes and put back on his black hat and blue shirt in preparation for going to court to hear the case. Qian Ying, on the other hand, was an idle person who drank, composed poetry and had fun all day long. She was quite famous in Jiangzhou for her outstanding literary talent. Qian Ying really had nothing to do today, so she went with her brother.
In the Jiangzhou government office, the lobby was lined with majestic officials, dozens of eyes staring at the woman and man in the center of the court. The woman has a graceful figure, is dressed in yellow clothes, and has all kinds of silver hairpins and gold ornaments on her head. The gray-haired old man on the other side was ordered to kneel on the ground. His clothes were ragged and he had a look of fear on his face.
Gan Bi came out of the back hall and walked straight to his wife, saying, "Madam, why do you have to work so hard?"
"This man was moving things at the market and bumped into me. The newly bought 'Colorful Glass Hairpin' broke into pieces! Not only that, he also splashed mud all over me!" Mrs. Qian shouted angrily.
Gan Bi saw that the old man was extremely poor and felt pity: just because of his wife's willful behavior, he might have lost a day's food. Therefore, he ignored his wife and helped the man up first, saying: "Old man, please get up quickly!"
"Sir, I was really careless. Please give me a lighter sentence!" The old man did not want to get up, but bowed even lower.
"Mr. Qian!" Mrs. Qian snuggled up to Qian Bi and said, "I have a witness this time. Look!" After saying that, she waved her hand behind her, and three women who were as luxuriously dressed as Mrs. Qian ran away. He came out and told the story of the incident one by one. These three people are all familiar to Mrs. Qian, and of course everything they say is directed towards her.
Gan Bi heard this for a long time and roared angrily: "That's enough! Madam, what are you trying to do by making such nonsense over and over again?"
"I...you have been running away from me all day long on official business. Have you ever thought that I am your wife?" Mrs. Qian said sadly: "You just don't think I can give you a child, right? You have to find another woman. , so that she can take my place!"
"Come here, take this old man back, and take some silver from the warehouse to compensate." Ganbi turned his back and returned to his seat, slapped the "gavel" in front of the case angrily, and retreated. The old man kneeling in the hall quickly thanked her, faced Mrs. Qian's complaints and anger, and left the place where the matter was.
"Well, you Qian Lingsheng, since you have brought shame on my Fu family, then don't blame me for being rude!" Mrs. Qian comes from the famous Fu family, so she naturally attaches great importance to the family's reputation. She was abandoned by her husband because she could not have children. For reasons like this, it is extremely humiliating for a daughter of a famous family.
"What on earth are you going to do! You, stop!" Qian Bi wanted to stop his wife from leaving, but received no response.
After a moment of silence, a subordinate came to Ganbi's side and reported: "Sir, the evil path that you want to thoroughly investigate recently - the 'Taiping Dao' has some clues, but..." He leaned close to Ganbi's ear, He covered his mouth and said softly: "'Taipingdao' has widely promoted that 'Fangzhongshu' can prolong life and beautify the face to attract followers, which has caused frequent prostitution in the city. I also saw that your wife... was among them!" "
Qian Bi couldn't believe it, he didn't expect that someone from such a famous family would not be able to escape the clutches of evil. For the sake of the family's face, he repeatedly warned this subordinate not to say anything. Gan Ying on the side witnessed Cheng. After learning what happened, she hurriedly comforted her brother. After all, his wife had done such things that were degrading to her husband's dignity.
Who knows that Gan Bi replied: "Ling Chong, I am more concerned about the reputation of the Qian family. As for Madam... all I can do is to give her a name. If Madam goes to the Fu family to take a test, Uncle Fu will Bian, I'll leave it to you to deal with it. The recent events are enough for me to drink a pot..."
Such a cold response was beyond Qian Ying's expectation. I often hear people say: "One day brings a hundred days of kindness to a couple." This saying certainly does not apply to marriages that are only for the purpose of maintaining a family relationship. At least my brother is the template.
After the two settled the matter, they walked back to Qian's Mansion. Seeing that her brother was unhappy, Qian Ying had an idea and wanted to go to a newly opened tavern in the inner city with her brother to have a happy time.
"Ling Sheng, I heard that there is a blond Xianbei woman in a newly opened restaurant in the inner city who is good at playing the pipa. I have nothing to do today, why don't you go pay your respects?"
Ganbi agreed silently, knowing that his brother was a very interesting person. When it comes to "having fun", he puts himself first, and no one dares to put him second. So he went back home, changed into regular clothes, and went with Qian Ying.
In the evening, surrounded by candlelight and crowds, the two young men strode into the "Furong Tower". A high platform was set up in the middle of the building so that everyone in the audience could enjoy the exotic atmosphere. Jiangzhou, located in the southeast, still doesn't know much about the "Xianbei people". This nomadic people from northern Saibei has always been shrouded in a mysterious veil. And tonight, in that exotic tune, all the drinkers can watch it up close. This made most of the people present extremely excited, and some even took advantage of the drunkenness to shout loudly and loudly to heighten the restless atmosphere.
After a while, a blond woman holding a pear-shaped pipa was led to the stage. The woman was wearing a red gauze with a skirt that only reached her knees and a ribbon wrapped around her waist. This was the dress of a romantic woman. But behind the pipa she held, hidden was a face that was still childish and unexperienced. When the drinker next to him saw such a weak girl, he couldn't help but start bullying her. He uttered filthy words and tried to see more wrinkles and pain in the face of the woman on the stage.
In order to play normally, the blonde woman closed her eyes tightly, endured the frivolous words of others, and plucked the first string. A series of musical sounds followed one after another, trying to take everyone present away from this place of fireworks. Gradually, people are gradually immersed in the tune that describes the wind and sand of the desert.
For Gan Bi, who has never been to the desert, the impression of the vastness he only learned about in books or people's words is not deep enough, but when he sees the woman in front of him, he is full of thoughts, and every thought is integrated into the tune. Among them, this is enough to make Qianbi intoxicated and relaxed.
"How could such a young girl end up in the world of mortals?"
Suddenly, a middle-aged man wearing a jade crown and a white robe, carrying a wine bottle, wandered to the stage, stretched out his hand to pull the skirt of the Xianbei woman, and said disrespectfully: "Beauty, let me see the rest of you. Is the hair here also golden? Hahaha..."
The Xianbei woman stopped playing, hugged the pipa tightly to her chest, and started wrestling with the gangster, trying to break away from his hand. Not only did no one come forward, but everyone was cheering and cheering. After a while, the girl's skirt was half torn off. The white of the blue and white cloth shoes, up to the base of the thighs, was exposed. She shyly shed bitter tears and covered her shame with her pipa.
A man with a long beard and a coat jumped out from behind the crowd and pushed the shameless gangster away. Then he went on stage and helped the woman down. But somehow, the moment she touched her, the blonde woman's body immediately softened, and she weakly dropped the pipa she regarded as a treasure, and fell into Qianbi's arms.
Gan Bi shouted several times, but received no response, so he could only carry her off the platform first. At this time, some drinkers on the side recognized that this was the prefect of Jiangzhou, and they asked loudly one after another: "Hey, isn't this the prefect? Why, are you here to have fun tonight?"
After everyone heard this, they started talking. Soon, a man who looked like a restaurant owner came over, raised his hand to Qian Bi and said, "Sir, no matter how big your official position is, it is not difficult to ruin the business of the small shop! This Xianbei woman, I have spent a lot of effort from the north. Earned..."
Ganbi smiled contemptuously, took out a bag of silver from his body, handed it over, and said, "This money is enough to redeem yourself!"
The manager from the restaurant opened the bag and saw the silver light. He accepted it with a smile and asked someone to send you two out. At the same time, the blond woman in her arms had woken up. She looked at her hands and called out hurriedly: "My Pipa! Where is my Pipa?"
Qian Ying walked out of the restaurant, holding the pipa in her hand. Upon seeing this, the woman immediately beamed with joy, jumped down from Qianbi's arms, and hugged back her beloved Pipa. During this time, her ankles made clear copper bell sounds intermittently.
"What a wonderful woman. She actually has a string of small copper bells tied around her ankles." Gan Bi said in his heart. The woman turned around and opened her dark eyes under her golden eyebrows, as if she had met someone he hadn't seen for a long time. Looks like an old friend.
"Why...you have a beard?" the blonde girl asked.
"This..." Gan Bi was stunned for a moment and replied: "I grow a beard when I am an official, just to look more majestic."
Qian Ying wondered at the side: "How do you know that your eldest brother didn't grow a beard before?"
The blonde woman replied: "I... saw it."
The two men were silent. Shaoqing, Ganbi introduced himself: "I am Ganbi, named Lingsheng. May I ask the girl's name?"
"Murong Yan."
"I am Ganying, named Lingchong, and he is his younger brother." Ganying hugged Ganbi with a smile and said, "Is there a place for Miss Murong? This is not a place for a woman of your age!"
"I was kidnapped... I was robbed by horse thieves on the way, and my family... were all killed. This pipa was left to me by my mother..." With tears in her eyes, the blonde woman hugged her He tightened his pipa and nodded slightly. A moment later, as if she recalled something, she raised her head suddenly, tears falling from her eyes, and knelt down in front of Qian Bi, pleading: "Mr. Qian, please take me in! I will serve you forever!"
The two brothers were speechless and had no choice but to let Murong Yan stay in the house first. Since that night, there has been a foreign girl beside Gan Bi. Although she is petite, with her height barely reaching her bare chest, she is smart, able to endure hardships, and plays the pipa well, which makes her very popular with the eldest son. At the same time, this also aroused the extreme dissatisfaction of Madam Fu, and also laid the "fuse" for what happened next...
