"It's just nonsense!"
Shen Qingqiu is sitting on the Grand Master's chair in the middle hall. He is about in his early forties, and his outstanding facial features can still hardly conceal the appearance of his youth. There is an awe-inspiring righteousness between his eyebrows, and the beard and hair under his chin add a calmness to him. Introverted charm.
At this time, his face was livid, and he slapped the case with his palm, causing the case to tremble three times.
Mrs. Shen looked at the desk made of fine rosewood with distress, and said softly: "Master, what happened? Why are you so angry?"
Shen Qingqiu puffed his beard and picked up the tea cup, took a sip, calmed down, and then said: "I have been looking for a matchmaker recently to arrange her marriage, but I didn't know that the matchmaker shook her head when she heard it, saying that all the young men in the city are... Not worthy of our Wanwan."
"Is this happening?"
Mrs. Shen's life was extremely gentle, and time seemed to be particularly fond of her. At almost forty years old, there was no trace of the passage of time on her body. There was a gentle smile on her lips, making her look even more gentle and charming.
"The matchmaker is right, but why are you so angry?"
Shen Qingqiu glanced sideways at Mrs. Shen and snorted coldly, "Matchmaker, that's putting it mildly! I found out after asking someone to inquire about it that these people didn't think they were worthy of Wanwan. They simply avoided her like she was avoiding disaster. !”
"This..." Mrs. Shen frowned slightly, with a trace of confusion in her eyes, "Wanwan is considered to be the best among the young women of Beiluo School in terms of talent and beauty, why should she avoid her?"
"Of course we know this, but do the people outside know that? In order to protect her these years, she is rarely allowed to go out. Even when she goes out, she always wears a hat. How do people know what she looks like? At first, everyone thought it was nothing. How could my dignified city lord’s niece be so far away?”
As Shen Qingqiu spoke, he picked up the tea cup and took a sip of tea. He suppressed his anger and said, "Do you know what this girl did?"
Mrs. Shen shook her head in confusion.
"She asked someone to draw a portrait of her and sent it around the city to spread it like crazy!"
"Portrait? Then why..."
Mrs. Shen was even more puzzled. Since there was a portrait and based on Wanwan's appearance, these people should be flocking to her.
Shen Qingqiu saw Mrs. Shen's thoughts and said angrily: "Hmph, if it were really her original appearance, the threshold of the city lord's palace would probably be broken by the matchmaker. She just keeps people in the city wondering who she is. Because of her appearance, she asked someone to draw a picture of an extremely ugly woman. Rumors spread to the city that it was her, and the rumors became more and more outrageous, saying that she ate eight bowls of rice at a meal, five meals a day, snored and sleepwalked while sleeping. You are so ungrateful that you only eat and sleep all day long!"
"this……"
Smiles gradually gathered in Mrs. Shen's eyes, and she tried her best to suppress the raised corners of her mouth. She couldn't laugh now. Her master was still angry, so she had to give him some face.
She cleared her throat and said comfortingly: "These are all rumors and they will always be disproven."
When Shen Qingqiu caught a glimpse of the suppressed smile in her eyes, he became even more angry, "It would be fine if these came from other people's mouths, but these are all coming from the City Lord's Mansion, which makes these rumors even more solid. Now Everyone in the city knows that my niece, Shen Qingqiu, is ugly and behaves vulgarly, and the more I explain, the more people think I am guilty!"
Mrs. Shen finally couldn't hold it back and burst into laughter.
All the steel that has been smelted will eventually turn into tenderness. Shen Qingqiu's anger gradually faded away in Mrs. Shen's laughter. The situation was calm and there were no more waves. He looked at Mrs. Shen with affectionate and gentle eyes, and his tone was full of helplessness, "You know how to spoil her."
"Why do you really want her to get married? You two are like two children. Today it's not her who burns your sword manual, but tomorrow it's you who scares her into choosing a husband for her. Wanwan did this Is there any small move that you did not approve of, Master?"
Mrs. Shen shook her head, her beautiful smile as gentle as the spring breeze, caressing every strand of Shen Qingqiu's soul, and a faint smile appeared on his face unconsciously.
Mrs. Shen added: "Wanwan has been quirky since she was little. Isn't that why we like her? We have been married for many years and have never had children. Since having Wanwan, our ordinary life has become a lot more lively. In my heart She is my daughter, isn’t it the same for me?”
Shen Qingqiu patted Mrs. Shen's hand gently, smiled and nodded.
Outside the door, Lin Wanwan was walking slowly and leisurely.
"Uncle, aunt."
As she approached them, she blessed them with an elegant and decent manner.
Shen Qingqiu cleared his throat, suppressed his smile, and looked at her seriously, "Where are you planning to go messing around again?"
"Wha, what?" Lin Wanwan didn't expect Shen Qingqiu to suddenly ask her this. She had been thinking about how to match his wits and courage along the way.
Shen Qingqiu glanced at the attendant next to him, and a few bags were scattered in front of Lin Wanwan. The banknotes and clothes inside were scattered on the floor.
Shen Qingqiu picked up the tea cup, took a sip calmly, and asked, "Tell me, what do you do with all this baggage?"
"..."
Lin Wanwan stared at the scattered baggage in front of her, and glanced at Shen Qingqiu guiltily.
Mrs. Shen also put away her usual gentle smile and looked at Lin Wanwan with a solemn expression.
Shen Qingqiu's face darkened a bit, and there was an invisible courage in his eyes, "Where are you going?"
"I……"
Lin Wanwan ducked her eyes and quickly lowered her head, complaining in her heart, how could she be discovered? Shouldn't they be concerned about the rumors outside? She finally spread the rumor just to divert the target, but she didn't know that her uncle would find out so quickly.
"Don't tell me? Come here, bring Nuanyan and Yusu up!"
Following Shen Qingqiu's order, a sweet and charming girl and a handsome boy were brought into the hall by the attendants.
Nuan Yan and Yu Su leaned over and saluted Shen Qingqiu and Madam Shen, "City Lord, madam."
Shen Qingqiu glanced at them and said, "Tell me, where are you going, young lady?"
"..."
Nuan Yan and Yu Su both looked at Lin Wanwan with expressions on their faces.
"Um?"
Shen Qingqiu's voice was not angry, but full of intimidation. The two of them looked left and right, engaged in a fierce ideological struggle.
"Miss her, miss her..."
Lin Wanwan looked at the two people in a dilemma and couldn't bear it. She sighed softly and said, "Okay, okay, don't embarrass them. I said, let me say it."
She knelt down quickly and saluted them, "Uncle, aunt, Wanwan is going to Nanling."
"Nonsense!"
"Wanwan?"
Shen Qingqiu's scolding and Madam Shen's surprised inquiry sounded at the same time.
"What? Is it because my Beiluo Shimen City Lord's Mansion cannot accommodate a giant Buddha like you? Now that your wings have grown hard, do you want to escape from your uncle and aunt?"
Shen Qingqiu's face was very ugly, and there was a hint of sternness in his tone. Mrs. Shen finally understood why her master was angry just now.
She forced a gentle smile, helped Lin Wanwan up, and persuaded softly: "Wanwan, why are you going to Nanling? The situation there is so chaotic now. If you want to go out and play, you can go elsewhere. Isn’t Beiming pretty good? Besides, Rong Sui is also in Beiming. Doesn’t that guy often write to you? "
Lin Wanwan looked at her aunt's gentle and loving eyes, the only soft spot in her heart was being rubbed back and forth, feeling a thousand nostalgia and reluctance to let go.
She sniffed, suppressed the mist that gradually gathered in her eyes, and said sternly: "Uncle, aunt, it is precisely because the situation in Nanling is becoming increasingly chaotic that I want to go to Nanling. In recent years, the situation between the four countries has been calm on the surface, but in fact there has been an undercurrent. , the current situation in Nanling, I am afraid that the other three countries are watching eagerly and preparing to make a move. If I, Fomalhau, do not make any move, I am afraid that after Nanling City is destroyed, Fomalhau will be next!"
"You..." Shen Qingqiu paused, his thick eyebrows knitted tightly together, and a complex look flashed across his eyes, "Have you been using Feihua Pavilion to detect news about Nanling?"
"Yes. I have found out that the forces of one of the other three countries are infiltrating into Nanling and are hiding from sight." Lin Wanwan's eyebrows were covered with a faint layer of worry, and there was a trace of tiny traces in her clear eyes. The ups and downs, but revealed an unshakable determination, "I am going this time to try the game of Nanling with him."
Mrs. Shen looked at her in disbelief, her eyes becoming more and more complicated, with worry, doubt and faint sadness. Her lips moved, but she didn't say anything in the end. Thousands of words could only turn into silent sighs.
Shen Qingqiu's face suddenly darkened, with a solemn look in his eyes, and he scolded sternly: "This is nonsense! No matter how much trouble you make on weekdays, I can turn a blind eye, but in this case, I can't. ! Do you think the fight between the four countries is child’s play?!”
Lin Wanwan bit her red lips tightly, clenched her fingers, tried her best to restrain the complicated emotions that were growing crazily in her heart, and said in an orderly manner, word by word: "Uncle, haven't you taught me since I was a child that benevolence and justice should be the first priority, and that the common people are the most important thing? If Fomalhaut becomes a bastard, what ability do we have to protect the people in the city? Although the previous city lords cannot leave Fomalhaut, I can. No matter what the situation in Nanling is now, we have to try, right? If I can be lucky enough to control Nanling's chessboard, I will at least have a glimmer of hope."
"What if you can't?"
Lin Wanwan closed her eyes gently, and when she opened them again, her face seemed to be covered with a layer of frost, and a ruthless light flashed across her eyes, "If you can't, then don't blame me for not remembering the friendship of the past. Nanling's dish How could the other two countries not be interested in playing chess?"
When Shen Qingqiu saw the coldness in her eyes, his heart sank, and he stared at her with a complicated expression. He was silent for a long time before sighing heavily.
"I really don't know whether it was right or wrong to hand Feihua Pavilion into your hands early."
After saying that, he took out a token from his lapel and handed it to Lin Wanwan, "This is the Moon Wanling Token of Wan Yue Tower. From now on, I will give it to you. Remember -"
Shen Qingqiu's eyes looked into the distance, his gaze was far-reaching and blurry, as if he was trapped in long-lasting memories, and he said thoughtfully: "If he is really capable of taking Nanling this time, you can help him. But. , do not let the other two countries get involved, otherwise the tragedy of the Four Kingdoms War three hundred years ago will repeat itself, and then there will be a loss of life and corpses everywhere."
"uncle?"
Lin Wanwan took the moon-warning order in surprise, with confusion on her face. Fomalhaut has always existed outside the Four Kingdoms after the Four Kingdoms War and has maintained neutrality. After the armistice agreement a hundred years ago, the Four Kingdoms began to continuously win over Fomalhaut and even sent princes to practice martial arts. Successive city lords and uncles have She had never wavered even a little bit, so why did her uncle ask her to help him now?
Shen Qingqiu's gaze still stayed in the distance, as if he had traveled through the dusty history, with a sense of loss, "The world will be divided and reunited after four hundred years, and we can't escape the fate of the world being reunited! Beiluo If the master wants to choose a master, then choose him."
"Why him..." There was a layer of mist floating in Lin Wanwan's eyes, ethereal and misty. Her voice was very soft, so soft that no one could hear the unwillingness in her words.
Shen Qingqiu withdrew his erratic gaze, his face softened, and he looked at Lin Wanwan lovingly, "Uncle is old and cannot leave Beiluo School. The safety of Beiluo School will be left to you in the future."
Lin Wanwan's brows moved slightly. She remained silent and respectfully saluted Shen Qingqiu and Mrs. Shen: "Wanwan understands. Uncle and aunt, Wanwan will go pack her bags first."
"Remember to ask Jiaojiao to report that the family is safe." Shen Qingqiu reminded lightly, then waved his hand, "Go ahead."
Lin Wanwan's heart trembled, she nodded calmly and said, "I understand."
After Lin Wanwan left with Nuan Yan and Yu Su, Mrs. Shen finally couldn't bear it any longer. She asked in confusion: "Master, why are you doing this?"
"Oh, what a bad fate! When that kid came to see me, I had a bet with him, and now -" A meaningful smile appeared on Shen Qingqiu's face, "As expected of me, You are a man, this child is nothing like a thing in a pond."
