After a sleep, the sky was dark and the earth was dark. When Xue Bai opened his eyes, he saw a layer of golden sunset shining on the window hinge, which looked calm and peaceful.
Still alive.
It can be seen that Princess Xianyi's mansion did not know anything about it, and Xin Twelve died early enough.
At the end of last night, he did not burn the fatal contract. He thought that if he had the strength in the future, he could be Xue Pingzhao.
I thought about it for a while, if I could use Li Linfu's hand to depose the prince Li Heng, and then get rid of Li Linfu, support a prince who is friendly to him to ascend the throne, reverse the case of Li Ying and Xue Xiu, or he could inherit the title of Duke of Hedong as Xue Pingzhao. , and then borrowing the prestige of the Xue family in Hedong to seek the appointment of Jiedushi, he would be regarded as a prince.
His ambition was no longer small, even Du Jin thought it was fanciful.
To do this, one must at least have the power of a high-ranking red-robed official.
In short, because of this ambition, they continued to hide the fatal object.
Xue Bai knew that such greed would often lead to disaster, but this was the nature of the power market. The greater the opportunity, the greater the risk.
He also had a visit to Mrs. Guo's house in the past two days. It was not suitable to hide things, so Du Mei would keep them for the time being. At this moment, I was thinking that this girl would have to remarry sooner or later. If her position changed then, she might not be as trustworthy as she is now...
Suddenly, a quarrel was faintly heard coming from the direction of the front yard.
Xue Bai stood up calmly, straightened his appearance, and then walked to the front yard.
"The Jingzhao Du family is considered a famous family, but why are you so rude?"
"Although my master's family is in a state of poverty, it is by no means someone you and others can humiliate. Please take the gift back."
"What is humiliation? My family, Alang, was born into the noble family of the Yang family in Hongnong, the second king and the third king. He is the son of a high official..."
"roll!"
In the front yard, Quan Rui was still arguing with someone. Across the courtyard wall, Du Youlin shouted loudly in the second courtyard. The Du family's servants rushed forward and moved several wooden boxes out.
Xue Bai walked to the corridor and stood side by side with Du Wulang who was watching the excitement. He saw a group of well-dressed servants stopping there and trying to persuade him.
"Du Gong, my Alang is sincere. Your family is just a small branch of the Du family, and you were convicted and dismissed from office..."
"I tell you to get out!"
Du Youlin couldn't hold back and rushed to the front yard in person, grabbed a gift note from Quan Rui's hand and threw it out the door, yelling: "Get out! Get out!"
"good."
Du Wulang clenched his fist and waved it, shouting "Hello".
A group of slaves pushed out the box and closed the door with force. There was a "bang" sound. Du Youlin was still angry and turned back to the backyard angrily. Lu Fengniang was chasing after him in tears.
"Alang..."
Du Wulang was so angry that he turned to Xue Bai and asked, "Do you know what happened?"
"I don't know. Have you eaten?"
"Come to my house and eat. I'll tell you while you're eating. My family has been humiliated. It's really hateful."
~~
We had soup cakes for dinner. According to Hu Shisanniang in the kitchen, only the Du family, his son and Xue Bai had a few pieces of mutton in their bowls.
Du Wulang asked her to help carry it to the east wing and bolt the door, regardless of the rule of not eating or sleeping.
"You know Yang Shenjin, the censor, right? He was one of the chief judges at Dali Temple that day, and he talked to you."
"Um."
"This old man is two years older than my grandpa, but he said he was coming to propose marriage to my eldest sister, so he was sent a gift last night. At first, my grandpa and mother-in-law thought he was asking for marriage, so they happily talked to his family manager. The last few sentences, all said in a roundabout way, are actually about taking a concubine, how is this possible?!"
Du Wulang also became excited when he said this.
Xue Bai quickly moved the bowl away.
"It's true that my family is from a side branch, and my grandfather has also lost his official position, but after giving birth to his surname, there is no possibility of selling his daughter to be a concubine. To return two kings and three brothers, the Sui Dynasty has been dead for many years. I really think that I am a descendant of the emperor. .The steward of the Yang family kept saying in front of me that the gift list was generous, and the more I listened, the more angry I became."
"How is your eldest sister?"
"The eldest sister was so angry that she cried and said that if my mother-in-law agreed, she would die. There is no way that my mother-in-law would agree. What a humiliation this would be to the Du family..."
Du Wulang chatted for a long time. Seeing that Xue Bai was quite calm and silent, he asked, "Why don't you speak?"
Not only does he look similar, but his personality is also like Lu Fengniang.
Xue Bai said: "Yang Shenjin doesn't have a wink, but he may not mean to humiliate the Du family."
"Whether he meant it or not, if this matter spreads, my family's face will be lost."
"Um."
"what's on your mind?"
"I'm thinking about what gift to give to Mrs. Guo Guo."
"Ah, you are really thinking only about Mrs. Guo and her sisters. But what can you afford to give? You are quite good at writing poems."
Du Wulang kept talking, Xue Bai chewed carefully and had already finished eating, but he still had more than half of his bowl, complaining that at home he was either eating biscuits or soup cakes.
"By the way, with all this fuss, I forgot to tell you that Li Julang of the Right Prime Minister's Office gave you two boxes of snacks. They are cheese shortbreads, named 'Yulu Tuan', and he left a message saying, 'A New Year's gift to you, let's enjoy it together during the good times' , he is quite nice to you."
"Um."
"Which Prime Minister's lady sent it in the name of Li Shilang, right?" Du Wulang chuckled, shook his head and said, "I have reminded you that you have to be careful when choosing a son-in-law. In the beginning, it would be better if you don't turn your face towards it..."
Having said this, he looked around and lowered his voice and said, "Even I know that being a son-in-law asking for a fighting cock is not a good thing."
"I'm really not as cautious as you." Xue Bai was able to say nice things casually and seemed very sincere.
"Oh." Du Wulang thought deeply and asked, "Do you really want to marry the prime minister's daughter?"
"Not exclusive, it depends on the situation."
Xue Bai looked at the soaked soup cake in Du Wulang's bowl and knew that he couldn't eat it. There is no such thing as stir-fried vegetables in the world today. Everyday we either steam or grill them, and we will get tired of them if we eat too much.
Looking out the window, the setting sun dyed the snow into gold.
He didn't wait for Du Wulang to finish his dinner, then got up and went to the front yard.
"Where are you going?"
"We'll talk about it later, it's almost curfew."
Just after leaving the door of the east wing, Xue Bai thought that he had no money, and was about to turn around to look for Du Wulang, but found someone standing on the porch looking at him.
…
"Are you sober? Are you dizzy?"
Qing Lan lowered her head shyly and looked up at him with bright eyes.
"I only had three drinks. I was still too sleepy last night."
"Where are Mr. Xue going?"
"Buy something."
"I'll take you there." Qinglan said a blessing. She knew he didn't like to be polite, but she wanted to put pressure on him deliberately.
Xue Bai looked at the sky and said, "Okay, do you have money? You lent me the lunch box, and I will return it to you when you get back."
"Huh?" Qing Lan held out the purse again, "My wife rewarded me with a hundred coins yesterday."
~~
Du Wulang finally stuffed a bowl of soup cake into his stomach, and the drum beat almost reached 600 times.
Every day is "dong dong dong" and then curfew, which is really annoying.
"If you bear with it a little longer, the Lantern Festival will be here soon."
Waiting for half a month after the New Year's Day, around the Lantern Festival, there will be no curfew in Chang'an City for three days, with lights brightly lit all night long and vendors constantly running. It is the day that Du Wulang looks forward to most every year.
Recently, Du Youlin didn't care about him. He had relaxed a lot. Now he was too full and tired, and he didn't want to read. He walked towards the front yard with his head peeping out, looking for where Xue Bai was.
The sound of dusk drums had stopped. He went to the west door and took a look outside. He saw Xue Bai and Qing Lan running back each carrying a bamboo basket on their backs.
"Hey, what did you buy?"
"delicious."
Du Wulang was quite disappointed because he was already full.
Moreover, we also have jade dew dumplings sent by Youxiangfu at home. They are snowy and glutinous, and they look delicious at first glance. Go to the small vendors in Shengpingfang, where can you buy anything delicious?
"Go to the kitchen and ask Sanniang Hu for help."
"Uh-huh."
Turning around, he saw Qing Lan nodding happily, her cheeks flushed red... Du Wulang was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that she was much more beautiful now, and he immediately understood.
He couldn't help but shook his head, thinking that if she didn't hide her thoughts, she would be punished by her mother again.
Then I thought that my mother-in-law was going to find a wife for me, but I didn’t know who she was from the He family and what her temperament was. I hoped she would be interesting...
"Hey, wait for me."
Going to the kitchen to watch Hu Shisanniang cooking was certainly more interesting than Wen Shu. Du Wulang followed Xue Bai and Qing Lan to the back courtyard.
After running a few steps, I suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.
I don’t know who can walk at night. If he can’t find the concierge at the side door, why should the Du family open the middle door to greet him?
Du Wulang had no control over these matters. He trotted to keep up with Xue Bai.
"Do you want to give Mrs. Guo something to eat? It's too shabby. It's okay for people to give you snacks, but you can't neglect to return the gift."
~~
When we got to the kitchen, the maids were washing dishes.
When Hu Shisanniang heard Xue Bai say that she wanted to try two dishes, she immediately asked: "Xue Langjun, the soup cakes made by the old woman are not delicious, so do you want to make something else?"
Xue Bai said: "It is because of Thirteenth Niang's superb craftsmanship that I remembered a few delicacies I had eaten and wanted Thirteenth Niang to make them. They must be more delicious than the original ones."
Hu Shisanniang was so happy when she heard this. She wiped her hands with a cloth and turned around cheerfully, ready to show off her skills.
"Just tell the old woman which dish Xue Langjun wants to cook."
This was the first time Xue Bai went to the kitchen. When he looked around, he saw that the kitchen utensils were complete.
Du Wulang introduced him knowledgeablely, including a large pottery cauldron for stewing vegetables, a large steamer for steaming rice, and a large casserole for cooking vegetables.
"Is there an iron pot?"
"That's a weapon. How can we have it at home?"
Xue Bai thought about this and had a rather distant idea. For the time being, we have to stir-fry the vegetables first.
"This casserole is too thick, I'm afraid it won't work."
"I remember there was a copper pot, which was my grandma's dowry. She hid it well. I wonder if it was dug out last time when the house was searched. Can I go look for it?"
Xue Bai felt that the copper pot was probably not good enough, but he could only try it first.
"Let's find him. If we can succeed, it will also be of great benefit to Du Zhai."
"Okay! You prepare the dishes first."
Du Wulang was really knowledgeable, and he also instructed them to take the mutton tripe out of the basket and serve it with ice and snow.
"It's not delicious if you buy such fat meat. Huh? There's also cheap meat here. Oh, it's really... I'll go find the pot first and teach you later."
He didn't know what Xue Bai was buying fat and cheap meat for, so he turned around and went to the main room. Then he entered the fourth courtyard and saw Caiyun trotting towards the front yard in a panic.
"Sister Caiyun, where is my grandma?"
"Wu Lang, that Yang Zhongcheng has come in person. Madam is very angry. A Lang is meeting guests in the front hall." Caiyun said and left in a hurry.
Du Wulang hurried to the front hall, and the cat looked into the hall from behind the soft wall.
This is far less convenient than the window for selecting a son-in-law in Youxiang Mansion, and you can only see a corner of Yang Shenjin's gorgeous fur coat.
Fortunately, the words can be heard clearly. Before I could squat down, I could already hear a word full of enthusiasm——
"Du Weng, I am sincere to my mother-in-law!"
Du Wulang was stunned when he heard that. He stuck his head out and looked out, and saw that Yang Shenjin's demeanor was still very good.
Du Youlin had already stood up and was furious. Although he didn't yell, he was obviously trying to restrain himself, and his voice was as cold as iron.
"Yang Zhongcheng, please come back. There is absolutely no room for negotiation on this matter."
Yang Shenjin seemed really confused.
Or maybe he was born too noble and he never cared about the emotions of others.
"Du Weng has been in vain for a long time. I'm afraid he still doesn't understand. I come from the direct lineage of the two kings and three Ke. It is said that 'Hu Jiangli and Pizhixi are admired by Ren Qiulan.' If you favor me, you will never humiliate me."
"It's me, Mrs. Du, who is not worthy of Yang Zhongcheng. Come, let me see you off!"
"If I can marry my mother-in-law, I will treat her like a real wife. I have three sons, but now I only have one. If my mother-in-law has a son in the future, she will have a good family, and if she becomes an official, she will be in the eighth rank. It's not difficult; if you give birth to a daughter, you can be a minister, and her wealth will be more expensive than that of ordinary officials. Du Weng has been dismissed from office and has become a white woman. After all, Yi Niang has lost her husband before, so how can she be like this..."
"Get out! Get him out!"
Suddenly, Lu Fengniang shouted and rushed out from behind the screen, picked up a teacup and threw it at Yang Shenjin's feet.
"Still not going out?!"
Upon seeing this, Du Wulang immediately came from behind the soft wall to help chase Yang Shenjin away.
Yang Shenjin didn't want to lose her grace and quickly backed away.
"Don't push me, Alang."
The steward next to Yang Shenjin was furious, raised his hand and shouted angrily.
"Du Youni, if you don't want to marry me, please return the dowry gift from me, Alang!"
"That's nonsense. When did our Du family receive your betrothal gift?"
"I, Lang, don't want to argue with you, but you are going too far! You changed the valuable colored drills into linen cloth and wrapped them in red silk, and put sand and gravel into the box to cover the utensils. Do you think you can pass the fake as the real? Are you trying to cheat on me? Alang’s money?!”
