When she got up early this morning, Xie Lanan asked Wu Niang to help her dress up with a Tangli jacket and a skirt.
In the past, gentlemen's robes were never worn in such gorgeous colors. Wu Niang said that the color of the skirt was called "Long Gao Zhu". Xie Lanan looked left and right, but he really couldn't see any difference from the peach blossom color. Moreover, the skirt was cumbersomely embroidered with a large albizia pattern.
However, when he met Wuniang's aggrieved look, Xie Lanan immediately said it looked good, removed the cuffs, and wore it.
The two sisters had breakfast together and listened to Xuan Bai recount the tragic situation of the Yuan family and his son outside the mansion.
"That Hara Rokuro is pitiful. The wound on his mouth is still oozing with blood. The two bloody marks that almost reach his ears look like he is smiling. He is speechless and Master Yuan holds him down and kowtows."
Xuan Bai's eyebrows were flying as he described it, "Mr. Yuan said, please forgive me for being so arrogant, so I have to kneel down."
Xie Yaochi was timid, so after hearing this, she covered her lips with a handkerchief and went straight to her sister.
Xuan Bai received the warning look in his master's eyes, calmed down a little, lowered his head and said: "Yuan Gong also conveyed the meaning of the Yuan family's old man, saying that if the master refuses to forgive, it means that the Yuan family has failed to discipline him, and the original ancestor is willing to come to the door to apologize in person. .”
Xie Lanan said.
Now that she has made up her mind, no one should give up. She will give the evidence of her crime to her fifth uncle, so how can she leave the Yuan family behind?
Unlike Xie Xinyi, he is a branch of the Xie family. If he commits a crime, he will be removed from the family tree and removed from the family tree. Yuan Deyi was the pillar of the Yuan family. If he was finished, the entire Yuan family would be finished as well. As long as he was not an old fool, it would be strange if he did not let his son and grandson come to the house to apologize.
This move had already been planned out when Xie Lanan was being challenged by Yuan Liulang at the spring banquet, so she called it a "coincidence".
Things developed as expected, and Xie Lanan was not happy. I didn't go to bed late last night, but it was just a legacy of centuries-old habits. As soon as I closed my eyes, I felt swaying, and when I woke up, I felt a little lazy.
However, she has a good appetite. The bean porridge is soft and sweet, the water shield soup is fresh, and the dough cake with duck clams is enough to satisfy her appetite. When she saw that Wu Niang had used only a small amount of food, she put down her chopsticks obediently, shook her head, and wrote lightly:
"Kneel down if you like, just be careful not to dirty the floor of my Xie Mansion."
"She didn't want to negotiate terms with me at all..." In the fifth uncle's mansion, Xie Xinyi quickly figured out the cause and effect, her lips trembling.
This girl is not afraid of things getting serious.
Doesn't Xie Lan'an care about the Xie family's reputation and life and death? No, that was exactly why she was so determined to have him die.
Xie Xinyi fully understood, and Xie Lan'an gave him two ways: either, he committed suicide, fulfilling Xie Lan'an's purpose of knocking down the mountain and shaking the tiger, and with his death, the other dissatisfied elders of the Xie family were frightened, so that they would not dare to stand up against her again, so Fu Ling The incident at Tongshan will not harm his direct descendants;
If he refused to die and insisted on causing a fight to the death, she also had a countermeasure. She would simply reveal the matter and then, in order to protect the Xie family, kick out all his descendants from the family tree and make a division. Anyway, if he didn't die at home, he would be beheaded at the cattle and horse market.
Although the impact on the Xie family is limited, maybe Xie Lan'an can gain a reputation as a righteous extermination of relatives and restore some of his reputation.
If you capture the thief first, capture the king, and both sides will die.
In the past, Xie Hanling, who only lacked the "first level of chess skills" and failed to gain it, learned to play life-or-death chess.
"Ancestor? Don't scare me..." The housekeeper had felt since yesterday that something was wrong with the ancestor who came back from Wuyi Lane. Now he looked at him without any energy.
But Xie Xinyi, who was holding on to the last bit of luck, said in a hoarse voice: "Go, personally deliver the greeting card to the old house, and say, I... I request to meet the head of the family, and I wish to stay closed from now on, and never get involved in family affairs. Is it possible?"
He added in a shaky voice: "Drive an ox cart."
Ox carts were slower than horse carts. The housekeeper didn't understand what he meant and didn't dare to ask any more questions, so he just took the order and went ahead.
Xie Xinyi waited under the eaves motionless.
After about half an hour, the car drove back, and someone said: "...The girl did not show up, did not answer the post, and only asked people to pass on the message. She promised to pick a few reading seeds from Wufang's lineage and send them to the private school. "
The implication is that if he refuses to die, the dozens of children and grandchildren under his knees will all become criminals who pluck out their genealogy and talk about reading, and their future livelihoods may be in question.
"My lady also said," the housekeeper imitated confusedly, "...don't even think about waiting for the second master to come back, it will be too late."
Xie Xinyi's body swayed, and his withered yellow frost hair fell from his temples. In an instant, his years were gone.
He suddenly realized that he had seen the wrong child.
With this scheming and ruthless determination, it doesn’t matter if he’s not a man! In the hands of such a person, the Xie family may not be able to overpower the Wang family in the future, denounce Jiangzuo, and become powerful for a while!
It's because he can't see it...
"Great Grandfather, what's wrong with you?" After standing there for an unknown amount of time, the old man heard a childish voice.
Xie Xinyi lowered his head and slowly bent down when he saw his little great-grandson, whom he loved most. The little boy panicked and reached out to wipe his grandfather's face. Xie Xinyi realized that tears had burst into his face.
"Grandpa, don't be sad. Lin'er recites it every day and is not lazy!" The little boy named Xie Fanglin panicked. He grabbed the old man's sleeve and stumbled to recite the poem Three Hundred. Xie Xinyi listened quietly for a while and said Sounds good.
"You must study hard in the future."
He rubbed his little great-grandson's head and let him play. Then he calmly gave instructions to his family: "Bath and change clothes for me."
Xie Xinyi took a fresh bath and stayed quietly in the room with the windows and doors closed tightly. One day passed like this, and in the evening there was no light in the house. The housekeeper was surprised and boldly knocked on the door and entered the room.
With the last ray of cloudy light, the housekeeper could clearly see the shadow hanging from the roof beam. As soon as he fell to the threshold, he shouted:
"Come, come quickly! Our ancestor...is dead!"
Thunder rolls across the sky.
·
Xie Lanan doesn't like rainy days. Fortunately, the rain was suitable for a funeral.
The Yuan family and his son had been lying low at the door for a day. Xie Lanan estimated that the other families in Wuyi Lane had seen everything that should be seen, and the comments that should be spread in the capital had also spread. Then he spoke and asked Don't let them get in her eyes.
The father and son of the Yuan family were like Meng Dahe. As soon as they left, the news of the death in Confucius Lane came.
The third room and Xie Ce's yard were all agitated, with lights and candles flickering wildly, and they were extremely surprised to ask why their fifth uncle died of illness.
Xie Lan was sitting in the unlit room, listening to the sound of rain on the eaves, tapping his fingers to echo the rhythm.
She didn't remember which year it was, but she drifted to a county whose name she had forgotten, and saw a group of refugees fleeing the war.
Among them is a pair of grandfather and grandson. The grandfather always hides his scrawny little granddaughter behind his back. After these refugees could not dig grass roots to satisfy their hunger for several days, the little girl was finally snatched away by four or five hungry men with gleaming eyes. Behind them was a large pot of boiling dirty well water.
Then the grandpa went crazy.
Today, the dignified ancestors of the gentry cannibalize people in the comfort of gold dust. Tomorrow, the poor and helpless people will be eaten by people on the river soil that cannot be defended.
The girl with heroic eyebrows looked sharply in the darkness and whispered softly: "How can this world be right?"
·
The spring thunder is fierce and the rain is like crisp. In a small neighborhood of Xiaochanggan, the slanting rain pours into the alleys and wets the ground.
Bai Song came to Chu Qingyuan in the rain so late at night, and naturally he brought big news. He opened the door and closed the umbrella before he could even close the umbrella, "Qingyuan, have you heard that the Xie Mansion has released a recruitment list to recruit new customers!"
Unlike Bai Song who was cunning and clever, Chu Qingyuan usually liked to study knowledge behind closed doors and was not as well-informed as him. Hearing this, Chu Qingyuan was stunned for a moment.
After coming back to his senses, he asked whether it was in the name of the Xie Mansion or in Xie Lanan's own name that the disciples were recruited.
"Did you get the point? It's that Mr. Xie - no, it's Madam Xie who chooses his retainers for her. Do you think it's strange?" Bai Song entered the room, poked the ticking umbrella in the corner, and shook it Holding up his sleeves, "Are you going or not?"
Chu Qingyuan's handsome eyebrows darkened.
If Xie Lanan was still the same Xie Lanan as before, he would naturally not hesitate at all when encountering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
But since the Spring Banquet, there has been a lot of discussion in the capital about Xie Lan'an's disguise as a man. She publicly cheated on her at this time, and the timing was weird, as if... she was deliberately provoking Jiangnan Shilin.
That girl can do anything wrong with her surname, but he is a man who has nothing and is walking on a suspended rope to fight for his future. He cannot make a wrong step.
"Not going."
Bai Song sighed regretfully, "I still want to give it a try. Although I am more than eight blocks behind you, but it would be good to see the style of a famous family. That is the Xie family in Wuyi Lane."
"I won't go, and I advise you not to go either." Chu Qingyuan sat back in front of the case and picked up half of the book she had not finished reading.
Under the candlelight, his profile was cold, his lips were as thin as willows, and he looked like a man who would never act impulsively.
"That person's identity is embarrassing. If nothing happens, the elders of the Xie family will soon accuse and detain her. Her own future is still uncertain. It is not easy for you and me to find a family background for poor people. We must be wary of getting involved in right and wrong, and become lifelong friends. disgrace."
There was nothing unusual in his calm tone, and Bai Song didn't notice that the young man's knuckles tightening around his bookcase tightened slightly, and he said loudly:
"Okay, don't go if you don't want to go. Anyway, you always have a long-term vision. But on the way here, I was still thinking about whether Madam Xie's recruitment list was just a favor to you. After all, that day , she only talked to you..."
Chu Qingyuan's eyes suddenly darkened.
Bai Song got it right, and he got the guess right that he had buried deep in his heart and didn't dare to think deeply about.
The more he wanted to forget those pair of pure eyes by Xuanwu Lake, the more he couldn't forget them. At this moment, they appeared in his mind again involuntarily. Those little bits of paint were clearly looking at him only.
The handsome and self-possessed young man's heartbeat gradually became disordered.
Chu Qingyuan read the books of sages and never believed in the dream of pie-in-the-sky, but he also never doubted his intellectual ability. Otherwise, why would the high-minded Danyang County Duke forcefully invite him to join the palace.
——So, what if it is true?
·
There are hundreds of Xie families in Jinling. Apart from Xie Lanan, probably few people could sleep well that night amid the continuous bad news about the Xie family. The next morning it cleared up after the rain, and Xie Lanan was about to go out.
He was about to reach the screen wall, but was stopped head-on by Xie Zhiqiu.
"What did you do to our ancestors!"
Xie Zhiqiu's eyes were red, obviously he hadn't slept all night. He heard last night that his fifth uncle died by hanging. The white silk ribbon that he used to commit suicide was a gift from Xie Lan'an, and he shed white sweat on the spot.
Looking at Xie Lanan now, there was still a faint fear in his eyes.
Since ancient times, scholars have hanged themselves, which is so humiliating. Uncle Wu was fine when he left the day before yesterday. What on earth did she force him to do?
Xie Lanan was wearing a snow-white girdle and a wide robe flowing in the morning breeze, looking cold and uninviting.
Wu Niang was not bothered today, she was more accustomed to wearing such simple clothes.
"The last person who spoke to me like this..." Xie Lan'an stretched out his hand and pointed to the sky, kindly reminding him, "Third uncle, please pay more attention."
Xie Zhiqiu shuddered suddenly.
It would be a lie to say that he has no worries, but he is really unwilling to give up the position of the head of the family to others, and there is a trace of cruelty in his eyes: "You are not afraid of the public opinion, and you are not afraid that your second uncle will come back to settle the score with you!"
"Third uncle, instead of worrying about this, you might as well pay more attention to your own family affairs. That alley is called——"
"Go back to the master," Yun Shuang stepped forward to say, "This is the second house at the west end of Zhenye Lane in Yanyan."
Xie Zhiqiu's eyes really changed now.
That was the house where he kept his outer chamber, and no one except him and his closest confidants knew about it.
Thinking of someone coming, Zhan Shichang Gong, who was beside him, hurriedly walked around the screen wall. When he saw Xie Lan'an, his footsteps stopped, and then he whispered to Xie Zhiqiu: "Master, the house in Zhenye Lane is empty. Miss Qiu's master and servants don't know where they are. Gone somewhere..."
"What did you do!" Xie Zhiqiu suddenly turned his head, unable to conceal his surprise.
"You think you can control me, but it's just a woman——"
"Even if Third Uncle doesn't value a pregnant woman, she should still think about her own flesh and blood." Xie Lanan lost his patience, waved his hand and walked away, "How about I go and report to Third Aunt?"
Xie Zhiqiu's heart almost broke when she heard this. How could she even know that Qiuniang was pregnant? He himself learned about this less than ten days ago!
At the same time, in the courtyard where Xie Zhiqiu lived, a maidservant nodded and said to Mrs. Yuan: "Our girl asked the servant to tell the madam that if the third master takes control of the Xie family, you always know the elegant wife of the third master best. Then the spring breeze will be proud." , taking concubines and keeping prostitutes, how can I stop? What good will it do to you, madam?"
The third wife, Yuan Lingjun, had a pair of phoenix eyes, and her hand as thin as a catkin was placed on the back of the female servant's hand. She listened to these words without saying a word.
This little maid was articulate and had a pleasant face. She pursed her dimples and continued according to her master's instructions: "Taking a step back, if you say that you are helping the head of the third house, it is to pave the way for the young man in the future, but we are the direct descendants of the Xie Mansion. He doesn't take concubine's views seriously, and he always treats his children equally. The third master is in his prime, I really want him to create a few more sons. In the future, this family business will——"
"Shut up." Yuan Lingjun closed her eyes and interrupted her, secretly feeling lucky.
She married the well-behaved daughter of the Yuan family, and all she wanted to do was live a life of single-minded devotion. The most taboo thing about her husband was being around her husband. How could she forget how the fifth lady came?
Yuan Lingjun had to admit that these words were rough and unreasonable. She had previously only wanted to help her husband become the head of the Xie family, but she had indeed thought too little.
As the old saying goes, for a couple, either the east wind prevails over the west wind, or the west wind overpowers the east wind. She only has a son, Ah Yan, but Sanlang is still in his prime.
Furthermore, Yuan Lingjun was indeed shocked by Xie Lan'an's disguise as a man, but before she could go to the west courtyard to see her uncle and sister-in-law's jokes, she heard about the bad news about the fifth uncle of the Xie family.
It can be seen that Xie Lanan is definitely not someone to be trifled with.
The woman knew that Xie Lanan's words were calculated, but after thinking about it, it did not hinder her interests.
She then told the female envoy: "Go and call the third master back. I have something to discuss."
At the door of the mansion, Xie Zhiqiu watched Xie Lan'an leave the mansion and board the car as if he had lost his soul. He didn't know where she had hidden Qiuniang. When he was in a dilemma, he suddenly heard someone in the house asking him to go back to his room, and he was shocked.
Did Shuzi really tell Madam? !
Everyone in Jinling knows that the third lady of Xie Mansion has always been jealous. Xie Zhiqiu's fear of guilt is not a secret.
The next moment, I saw Xie Yan running from the side of Suiqiang Gate, saying with a white face: "Father, it's broken..."
"What happened again!" Xie Zhiqiu covered his head with an unknown premonition.
"Just now, people from the Zhou family in Yixing came to the door and said that the marriage between the child and Mrs. Zhou was inappropriate..." Xie Yan said with a mournful face, "They want to cancel the engagement."
