"Why hasn't Mrs. Dou come yet?" Xiao Luolan hid in the rockery. It felt like the time was so long. She looked at the rockery and slowly walked to the exit. The unfamiliar touch of fabric as she walked made her face even hotter. She tried her best to Ignoring the strange feeling, I saw Sect Leader Zhou standing on the stone path in the distance as soon as I left the rockery pass, seemingly waiting for someone.
Before Xiao Luolan could speak, Sect Leader Zhou strode over as before: "Mrs. Xiao, don't be anxious, I have already informed Mrs. Dou and asked her to prepare what she needs."
Xiao Luolan wished Clan Master Zhou a thousand blessings. She stood half sideways at the rockery pass, her cheeks were red, and she really didn't know how to face Clan Master Zhou who was eager to help.
When Zhou Xu came closer, he saw Mrs. Xiao lowering her head slightly, revealing a section of her snow-white and pink neck. Her jade-like earlobes were dripping red with blood. A few strands of her fluffy hair were wet with sweat and stuck to the sides of her ears. There was a look of embarrassment on his face, probably because he was too nervous. His breathing was faster than in the rockery cave, and the tidal heat filled Zhou Xu's nasal cavity with a faint and sweet fragrance.
Zhou Xu asked with both inquiry and concern: "Mrs. Xiao, are you feeling uncomfortable?
Xiao Luolan heard Clan Leader Zhou's question and found that Clan Master Zhou was so close to her now. Although he cared about her, but because Clan Master Zhou was so tall, as soon as he got closer, a strong sense of oppression shrouded her like a shadow. After coming down, Xiao Luolan couldn't help but took a step back, her body pressed against the rockery wall, her palms were sweating: "No."
Zhou Xu listened to Mrs. Xiao's chattering voice and got closer. Her summer clothes were already thin and she was sweating slightly, so she clung to her snow-white skin. Seeing that Mrs. Xiao was about to be frightened by him, Zhou Xu thought. Thinking about it, he still resisted the urge and took a step back.
Now that Mrs. Xiao is right under his nose, he is not in a hurry.
More haste less speed.
He wanted to pull Mrs. Xiao into his net bit by bit until she could no longer break free.
Although Zhou Xu thought so in his heart, his eyes were out of control at all, as if they were glued to Mrs. Xiao, staring at her.
Xiao Luolan raised her head and glanced at Sect Master Zhou, and then quickly lowered her head. Only her eyelashes were trembling, her skirt moved slightly, and her green forged soft shoes quietly moved back a little, completely hidden under her skirt.
Seeing her frightened and frightened look, Zhou Xu's heart felt so tender and loving that he wished he could hold her in his arms and rub her hard so that he could vent the sudden evil desires in his heart.
at this time.
"Mrs. Xiao." Mrs. Dou came in a hurry with cleverness: "I'm sorry to keep you waiting for so long."
When Xiao Luolan saw Mrs. Dou, she didn't even have time to wait. She tried to run away and quickly walked behind Mrs. Dou. As soon as she took a step, her wrist was grabbed by a hot and scalding hand. Unable to maintain the surface calm, his eyes widened and he looked at Sect Leader Zhou in fear.
Zhou Xu noticed Mrs. Xiao's trembling delicate body, and felt half regretful and half happy in his heart. He just liked Mrs. Xiao, what's wrong!
However, he slowly lowered his hand, bent down and freed Mrs. Xiao's skirt from being stuck in the crack of the stone, and then tied it into a knot. He raised his head and could just see Mrs. Xiao avoiding his eyes. On the red clouds and jade face, above the wide brocade skirt, the bright moon towers high and rises and falls.
Zhou Xu put down his hand reluctantly.
"Mrs. Xiao, the hem of your skirt was caught in the stone seam. It's healed now."
Zhou Xu only heard a thin voice of thanks, and a gust of fragrant wind drifted by. Mrs. Xiao came behind Mrs. Dou, cleverly put a cloak on Mrs. Xiao, and then Mrs. Dou took Mrs. Xiao away.
In the stone garden, there were jagged and jagged rocks, and the light and shadow were intertwined. Zhou Xu stood on the rockery and suddenly chuckled.
Why does he want to bully Mrs. Xiao so much? It's probably because Mrs. Xiao has been frightened by him, but a little kindness can get her kindness again. Later, she will definitely harass her repeatedly. With her soft-hearted and gentle nature, Mrs. Xiao It is as warm as a pool of spring water. When there is no wind or waves, it flows lightly and does not surge. It is like a flat mirror. Only when it is stirred will the ripples spread out and you can enjoy different scenery.
Zhou Xu left the stone garden and walked to the small pavilion near the water to sit down.
Lei Shan followed him with two horsemen.
Zhou Xu looked at Mrs. Xiao and Mrs. Luo who were rocking a awning boat to pick lotus flowers in the lake in the distance, and told Lei Shan: "Go and take care of Mrs. Xiao nearby." In case Mrs. Xiao falls into the water, Mrs. Xiao will do it again. Worried for days.
Leishan should come.
On the other side, Mrs. Dou brought Mrs. Xiao to the West Garden.
Mrs. Dou saw that Mrs. Xiao was in a different state of mind along the way, so she said, "Mrs. Xiao, there are changing clothes and some supplies in the guest room in front. You can use them with confidence."
Xiao Luolan came to her senses and said a thousand blessings to Mrs. Dou: "Thank you, Mrs. Dou." Then she asked, "Is my daughter still playing on the lake?"
"Here I am, I just asked Qiao Xin to visit. I am boating on the lake with Mrs. Luo." Mrs. Dou smiled.
Xiao Luolan was relieved. She pushed the door in and locked the door. She found that there were two bathtubs filled with hot water in the room. The outside was covered with a screen. Xiao Luolan was sitting on the bench with her skirt spread out. She suddenly Then I saw the knot tied by Sect Master Zhou.
Thinking of Clan Master Zhou's scary look, Xiao Luolan still has lingering fears. She couldn't describe Clan Master Zhou's look, but the feeling it gave her was that it made her very scared.
She looked at the knot and frowned slightly, wondering why Sect Master Zhou would tie a knot in the hem of her skirt.
Xiao Luolan opened the knot and realized that the corners of her skirt were stained with sporadic menstrual blood. Maybe it was accidentally rubbed when changing the pads. Xiao Luolan stared at the knot in a daze, a little lost. After a long time, she washed herself and put on a menstrual belt and clean clothes.
Qiao Xin had been waiting not far away. When she saw the door open, she knelt down and said, "Mrs. Xiao, my master, Mrs. Xiao, Mrs. Luo and the others are enjoying tea in Luojin Pavilion. The master specifically asked me to take you there."
"Mrs. Xiao, please come with me."
Xiao Luolan called Mrs. Dou's personal maid and asked a little embarrassedly: "Qiaoxin, will the clothes I changed stay in?"
Qiao Xin smiled and said: "Mrs. Xiao, please don't worry, your clothes will be collected and cleaned by a maid. When you leave, I will just ask Fang Yun to pick them up."
Mrs. Xiao followed Qiao Xin through several gardens and finally came to a small waterside pavilion.
"Auntie." Xiao Qingxue ran over holding a bouquet of lotus flowers and was a little surprised to see her mother change her clothes.
Xiao Luolan caught the lotus flowers given to her by her daughter. Seeing her little face turned red, she took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on her forehead. Then she whispered to her that she was menstruating and changed her clothes.
Xiao Qingxue said "Oh" and walked into the waterside pavilion with her mother.
The pavilion is filled with female relatives.
Mrs. Dou invited the two distinguished guests to sit down and said with a smile: "Mrs. Xiao, these tea sets were specially brought from my parents' home when I got married. Let's make tea and drink together later."
Xiao Luolan looked at the tea-making utensils on the dining table and heard Mrs. Dou talking about her natal family for the first time: "Mrs. Dou, are you marrying far away?" If not, you can just drink tea at home if you want. There’s no need to bring a tea set with you either.
Mrs. Dou smiled and said: "Yes, my natal family is in Qinchuan in the south of the Yangtze River, which is far away from Taiyang, Youzhou. When I got married, my parents and brothers were reluctant to marry me so far away. Unexpectedly, in a blink of an eye, decades later, It's over." After saying that, she sighed quietly.
Xiao Qingxue had been drinking simple tea. She suddenly saw the stove tea cakes placed on the food table and a small plate of onions, ginger, pepper, dates, cinnamon, orange peel and other things next to it. My tongue suddenly felt numb. If I cook this with the tea cake, can I still drink the tea?
"Don't be sad, we will meet again eventually." Xiao Luolan said with relief.
"Yes." Luo Shi followed, "Mrs. Xiao is right."
Mrs. Dou regained her composure and regained her smile, saying, "Let's make tea."
Xiao Luolan looked at so many things and looked at each other with her daughter.
Mrs. Dou broke the tea cake into pieces and baked it on the fire. When it was almost baked, she put it in a small dish and smashed it with a small wooden hammer. Then she opened the teapot lid on the small stove and added the pepper, salt and jujube. , cinnamon, green onions, and wait for the water to boil.
"Mrs. Xiao, why only put in the orange peel?" Luo Shi was also ready. Seeing that Mrs. Xiao put in very little, she was a little puzzled.
"I like the aroma of orange peel." Xiao Luolan could only say this. Xiao Qingxue did not dare to try so many condiments. Like her mother, she only added orange peel and jujube.
Luo Shi smiled and said: "Mrs. Xiao and Miss Xiao are really mother and daughter. Even their living habits are the same. My Yueniang is different from me. She rides horses and goes out to play every day. Mrs. Xiao, your Snow Niang is also like her. Is that so?"
Xiao Luolan nodded and said: "She has been more lively since she was a child."
Mrs. Dou said with envy: "I have always wanted a daughter, but unfortunately, the two of them in the family are sons. On weekdays, Mrs. Xiao and Mrs. Xiao really envy me."
A few people chatted for a while.
The fire on the small stove was steaming. Mrs. Dou put the broken tea into it, stirred it, then took out a good cup and took a sip.
Xiao Luolan drank orange peel tea and looked outside. It was already evening, and the golden sunset was reflected on the lake. The water reflected golden light, dyeing the entire waterside pavilion with golden light.
When they were leaving, Luo Shi said with a smile: "Mrs. Xiao, if Miss Xiao feels bored in the mansion, she can play with my Yueniang. We live next door to the Dou Mansion."
Xiao Luolan took one look at her daughter and agreed.
Then Mrs. Dou said she wanted to go to Hongfa Temple to worship Buddha tomorrow, but Xiao Luolan quickly refused. Recently, she didn't want to go out at all.
Seeing that Mrs. Xiao didn't want to go, Mrs. Dou didn't force it. The result now was beyond their expectations. Friendships were getting along slowly, so there was no rush at this moment.
After getting on the carriage, Xiao Luolan didn't see Sect Master Zhou. Lei Shan rode up and said, "Mrs. Xiao, Miss Xiao, the Sect Master left early this afternoon because he had something to do."
When Xiao Luolan heard the news, he relaxed a lot, and even the embarrassment hidden in his heart became less.
She was sitting on the carriage, and her daughter was sitting next to her, putting lotus flowers in the vase. Fang Yun was arranging the dress that her master had changed. Xiao Luolan found that there was no strip of cloth given to her by the Zhou clan leader in the dress. Could it be that it was thrown away? Lost?
night.
Prefect's Mansion.
Li Bozhi sat on the chair with a livid face and yelled at his servant: "If there is no big man in the house, why don't you go outside and look for him!"
"You traitor! I'm so angry!"
He slammed the table hard, and the woman beside him said angrily: "Master Li is really a powerful official. Da Lang just went out, is it worth Master Li getting so angry? San Lang, go with me, mother today." I cooked your favorite meal late."
Li Hanzhang rubbed his forehead.
Li Bozhi listened to his wife's strange words and roared: "How dare you say that I haven't seen you for a few days, and no one told me!"
The woman stirred her handkerchief and said with reddish eyes: "I usually go out to play. I haven't seen you for two or three days, and I haven't seen you fall in love with me."
"Today is different from the past!" Li Bozhi raised his voice: "That traitor still dares to go out to play. When he comes back, I will break his legs!"
"How dare you!" The woman got angry, stood up, pointed at Li Bozhi and said, "Li Bozhi, if you dare to break Da Lang's legs, I, Zhang Wei, will make peace with you."
Li Hanzhang sighed when he heard the quarrel between his mother and father. He called the boy and asked him to send a few more servants to find his eldest brother quickly. He also looked for places like the Fireworks and Liuyuan. Don't miss any place. , if you find someone, bring them back.
He had a bad feeling in his heart.
…
"Is there another news from Cang County?" Zhao Qingshan waved his folding fan and watched the carrier pigeon disappear into the night.
Zhou Xu stood in front of the window, pulled out the copper pipe, took out the sealed roll paper inside, unfolded it and looked at it carefully, and handed it to Zhao Qingshan after a while.
Zhao Qingshan looked over and briefly extracted useful information: "The calluses on the thumb, index, and middle fingers of the seventeen assassin corpses are much thicker than ordinary people, and there are coarse cloth threads between the nails of the ten fingers. The fingers of the seventeen people have cloth strips wrapped around them all year round. It is suspected that a kind of grasping weapon needs to be used all year round, and there are different marks of dots and poke marks on each body."
Zhou Xu looked at the thick brown cloth that was delivered, squinting at it, as if muttering to himself: "I remember that the Zhang family's weapons and guns are very famous."
In addition to dead soldiers, people who are not afraid of death also have soldiers, especially family soldiers. What is a family soldier? After a veteran takes off his armor, he is hired in the master's house. His descendants still receive training from the veterans, and the master they serve is naturally the master of the house. As a master, they are equivalent to their master's personal protectors and naturally obey their master's orders.
Zhou Xu smiled and said, "Is the Li family home restless?"
Zhao Qingshan also thought of this and must make good use of it this time. When he was thinking about how to maximize the use, he suddenly heard his lord calling him.
"Qingshan, do you have that kind of... ahem... books about women's menstruation?"
Zhou Xu sat on a chair, holding a travel journal, and asked pretending not to care.
Zhao Qingshan's face stiffened: "No."
Zhou Xu frowned. He rarely paid attention to such things, but now he felt like he had no way to pay attention to her. After all, he had not been close to a woman for many years.
"What should I do if the woman comes?"
Zhao Qingshan said with a dull face: "Master, this woman has a menstrual belt." He really didn't want to hear such a thing, so he went out and called a woman over.
After waiting for a while, the mother-in-law went out and he went in again.
Zhou Xu frowned, unable to read the book, with a strange look on his face: "Is it filled with plant ash?"
Zhou Xu thought of Mrs. Xiao's hands. Even the skin on her fingertips was so delicate, let alone those there.
It should be used better, preferably softer.
He looked at the book and suddenly thought of a good thing. If it were the softest thing, of course it would be cloud paper.
