One day, Li Xianke was thinking hard about something in front of the Xiaoxuan window. Purple smoke rose from the desk in front of him, and the pen and ink were fragrant. One or two white flowers fell on his rice paper. He looked up and saw a flower in the corner of the courtyard. The garden is full of magnolias.
"Fourth brother, let's eat some biscuits! Just have this hot porridge!" Cuihe, who got up early, brought a bowl of meat porridge, and then took the biscuits from the hand of the servant girl next to him. This was Li Xianke's breakfast. .
Xian could see that she came forward lightly, put the hot porridge and the dishcloth on it, then lowered her head and opened the incense burner on his desk, changed some spices, and pressed them again. new
There was a deep cut on the finger she raised. She covered it up, but he still discovered it.
"What's wrong with your hand?" He put down the bowl and chopsticks, took her hand and took a closer look.
But when she saw the servant girls all around, she quickly held her hand, and he slowly let go.
The two stood still for a long time.
"Where did you hurt your hand?" He asked again, this time in a calmer tone.
"Slave, I accidentally hurt myself while cutting vegetables. The wound is not big. I have already applied medicine!"
"Isn't this big enough?"
"It doesn't hurt, slave. It's okay. I'll just ask the servant girl to apply some medicine for me later!"
"I'm going down first! Fourth brother, hurry up and eat." She almost didn't give him any chance to say anything, and took the plate away.
She took down the plate, then went into the small kitchen and started kneading the dough with water. She was thinking about something while kneading, and the hot water on the stove was boiling in front of her.
"Miss Cuihe, the master calls you to go to his place!" A small yellow door leaned against the kitchen door and said to her.
She gently wiped her hands and said hello, then followed the man to Li Shi's room.
Seeing that the door was ajar, she really felt something was wrong, so she opened the door cautiously with a gentle step and saw Li Shi leaning sideways at the small bright window, admiring the magnolia in the courtyard.
"My lord! Are you looking for me?" She bowed as usual.
He nodded lightly, clasping his hands behind his back, slowly walked to the desk in the room and sat down.
"You have been here for more than ten years, right?" he asked arrogantly.
"Yes! Fifteen years!"
"Fifteen years, time flies so fast. Are you twenty years old?"
Cui Henai paused and replied hesitantly: "Yes, Master, I will be twenty after my birthday soon!"
"Twenty is not too young. It's time to talk about marriage. You will be allowed to marry at nineteen. You and the second girl grew up together. It has been five years since the second girl got married. It's time for you to make plans? "
She nodded silently and said nothing.
"Have you chosen a man? Maybe you have a man you like?"
She shook her head, knowing what he was going to say next.
"You are twenty now, and you don't have a husband you like, and you don't have much savings, so let me act as a matchmaker for you. The matchmaker will choose a small official to marry into. This will not only ensure that you have enough food and clothing, but also look decent. , how about it?"
"Please pack up and go to worship in front of my wife's soul first. I'll put some money together and you can go back to your hometown in Xianping. When you come back, you can go to Qing'an Temple to serve Master Tonghui Yuanming!" I won't wait for you anymore. I'll wait a few days and find an official for you, and you can get married in all glory. "
(Note: Master Tonghui Yuanming—the dharma name of Li Shi’s eldest sister Li Hongyuan)
Cui He raised her head slightly, her helpless eyes floating in the room, from the fluttering curtains to the cold ground.
"Aren't you willing? You should know, Fourth Brother, he is thirteen now, and I am planning to choose a girl from a rich family and arrange a marriage for him, so that he can study with peace of mind. Go take the science exam! You should understand what I said."
Cui He was silent, with tears in his eyes. He knew what Li Shi was referring to and what he meant.
"You know, we are equally matched and well matched. Fourth brother's future wife should also be a carefully selected aristocratic girl. Then..." He moved his lips and stopped talking.
Cui He then covered her head and kowtowed again and again. Then she stood up, returned to her room, and packed her things quietly.
arrive
At night, she was tidying up the bedding she slept on, and her packed luggage was placed on the table next to her.
The little servant girl on the bed opposite came in with a few friends. Seeing Cui He cleaning up quietly, the little servant girl asked, "Sister Cui He, where are you going?" She was somewhat sarcastic.
But Cuihe still smiled and sat lightly on the bed: "Hey, I'm twenty, and I'm going to get married. The master asked me to go back to my hometown first, and when I come back, I have to say goodbye to my sisters!" "
"Sister, she went away when she was high. Once she got married, she wouldn't be like us, serving people every day and being humble!"
Cui He pursed her lips: "I don't know whether it will be a high achievement or an abyss, so just leave it to fate!"
Several servant girls made a gift and then went to give her some parting gifts, including exquisite jade pendants, hand-sewn armholes stuffed with white velvet, plush forehead wipes, and various snacks and preserved meats.
And she hesitated for a long time, looking at the magnolia in the courtyard, muttering: "How can the magnolia be as fragrant as the plum blossoms? The plum blossoms in Huining are the most beautiful!"
After saying that, she closed the small window and sat alone on the inkstone.
What she hesitated for a long time was that she was reluctant to let go of Li Xianke, but then she thought about something and accepted the reluctance.
"Fourth brother, if you and I are different, then you should settle down your marriage properly! Get married and start a family." She covered the withered plum in a small box on the inkstone.
On second thought, she wanted to see Qingya again. After all, life is short and the years are endless. If she gets married, she will completely leave the Li family, and she doesn't know when she will see Qingya again. Under the dim candlelight, there was the scene of her having fun with Qingya and Xiyi many years ago.
"Second girl, I'm sorry, I miss you too!"
At this thought, she fell into a drowsy state and had a dream of being reunited with them.
In the early morning of the next day, she packed her luggage and went out. The carriage arranged by Li Shi had been waiting for a long time, and the coachman was nibbling pancakes by the railing.
She approached and hurriedly stuffed a heavy bag into the groom's arms.
The groom was puzzled. He quickly sat down and folded the pancake into a paper bag and put it in his arms. He opened the cloth bag she gave him and marveled - "Why did Sister He'er give me such a good thing?"
That bag was full of all kinds of jewelry and hairpins, which were the little savings she had accumulated over the years.
Cuihe lowered his head gently: "I don't want to go back to my hometown in Xianping. Brother, please do me a favor. I want to go to Jinan Mansion to find the second girl."
The groom hurriedly collected the bag and returned it to her. He shook his head and said, "That's really not possible. The Lord has sent me to escort you back and forth. Xianping is not far away. It can only take a few days at most. But you are from Jinan, separated by mountains and seas. Come here." I’m afraid it will take half a month to go!”
"Sister, are you really crazy?"
"I'm not crazy, nor crazy. I want to see the girl."
She stood in the clear dew of early spring, her green dress swaying in the wind.
For a long time, the groom thought for a while.
"No matter what, no matter what, I met my sister once. She is about to get married, so I will relieve her from the pain of missing her and send her to Jinan. The master will not pay much attention to our whereabouts. If you really ask, I He said that the girl stayed in her hometown for a few days and reunited with her relatives!"
She held up the treasure in her hands, but she saw the groom blocking her hand. He patted his chest: "Sister, a weak woman, how can I bear the pain of traveling alone? Even as a stranger, I, a reckless man, will have a hard time." If you send the girl to Jinan, you are a righteous person, so why do you need such vulgar things?"
"My sister, I've saved all my hard work and kept it for my dowry. It's not convenient to have food on the way, so you should give yourself more money."
"My sister went to Jinan. She went well and came back well, so as not to worry her family!" He jumped out of the car, his round body fell to the ground and a burst of dust came out, and he put her aside with a smile. The baggage on the steps was lifted and put into the carriage.
Cui He burst into tears. Hearing this, he thought silently in his heart: "Where do I have relatives from?"
The groom arranged the pedal for her, and the two of them agreed and set off to the south.
The carriage jolted, and the jade ornaments under her fair earlobes patted her cheeks. She gently lifted the curtain and saw the fire-blackened wall of the Liaoyang Left-behind Mansion. That was during the Tiande period, when Wan Yan Yongzhen was guarding this place, but the bandits invaded.
It was caused by the stay in Liushou Mansion.
Now, over the years, the ruins of this place are in ruins, and the gates and courtyards are overgrown with weeds.
Xianke knew that when Cuihe left, it was already after school in the evening. He returned to the house and prepared to change clothes and take a bath. When he saw that the maid who came to change clothes was not Cuihe, he asked Cuihe where he was. The servant girl who was waiting on her said hesitantly that Cuihe was taking a rest, and another servant girl said that Cuihe was taking a bath and washing herself. This made Xianke suspicious and he rushed to her room.
Seeing that the quilt under her bed curtain was neatly taken care of, the clothes in the closet were gone, and the jewelry on the dressing table were gone, Xianke asked again, and the servant girl just told him the truth.
"Sister He, went to Jinan to look for the second girl!"
Sweat broke out on Xianke's forehead and he asked again: "Why did you go to Jinan to look for my sister?"
"The Lord said that Sister He was getting old and wanted to get married, so he said that it would be decent for her to find a petty official to marry into. I originally sent someone to send my sister back to Xianping, Liaoyang, and prepare for her when she came back. We were married, but Sister Ke He said that she missed the second girl very much and insisted on going to Jinan. At this time, I am afraid she is already hundreds of miles away from home!"
"Why don't you tell me about such a thing?" The anger in Xian Ke's heart rushed to his neck and face. The servant girls around him were frightened. It was the first time they saw the taciturn man so angry, so they all stepped aside.
Xian Ke bowed his head to the frightened little servant girl and ran out in a hurry to find Cui He.
Li Shi, who had just returned home after joking with his servants after fishing, met Xian Ke at the door. Seeing him running away, Li Shi called out: "Xian'er, where are you going? Are you in a hurry?"
"Dad, are you going to marry He'er off? Are you going to drive her away? I won't let her go. I don't want her to get married! If dad drives her away, he will drive her away too!"
Xian Keke spoke without hesitation, completely ignoring the eyes of the people below, let alone Li Shi's shouts, and just ran towards the door, with a pair of determined eyes on his childish face.
He led the horse and rode it, called a few followers, and galloped over in the cool night of early spring.
Cui He had been driving for a whole day, and the slow carriage stopped at Green Ping. The coachman and the other two people called her out softly, and then rested on the Green Ping. They would set up a simple tent here tonight to take a rest.
She sat on the lawn, with the vast grass low enough to cover her feet. The late dew wetted her green dress and even her hanging silk. She held her chin up and looked up into the sky. The sky was full of stars and boundless. She closed her eyes and breathed in. The fragrance of spring soil was all there. There was a faint fragrance of grass floating in the air, and the faint and distant chirping of insects sounded, playing a spring song. Melody, once again hearing the howl of apes in the distant mountains, a sense of desolation comes to my heart.
