"Father."
"What's wrong?"
Xie Lingjiang hesitated.
Xie Xun was in front of the desk, lowering his head to spread the paper. The Xiaoyao scarf behind his head fell to the table, and he said without raising his head:
"Help me grind the ink."
"good."
Xie Xun took a small pen with a small wolf hair, lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, and then began to dip in ink and write. This is a letter.
Xie Lingjiang, who was studying ink on the side, looked at his father who was attentive for a while, then turned to close the window. It seemed like it was going to rain outside.
"Don't close the window." Xie Xun paused, "Rain is a good thing."
Xie Lingjiang stopped and said directly: "Father, Ouyang Lianghan is different from what I imagined."
"What do you imagine."
"I thought we were kindred spirits, and we had a great time chatting with each other."
"What about reality?"
"Actually...it's a little weird, a little serious and a little undecent at the same time. It's not the same as what you said before."
"oh?"
Xie Xun stopped writing, "Everyone changes, let alone going through ups and downs at a young age."
Xie Lingjiang hesitated for a moment, then recounted the "misunderstanding" in Sanhuiyuan this afternoon, and concluded:
"He also lied, even though it was a good deal. But my daughter doesn't like this kind of worldliness."
When she finished speaking, she frowned and turned back, but found that her father was stopping and looking at her with interest.
"Before, I thought it was inappropriate. How can two gentlemen live their lives together? But now that I hear you say it, I think it's quite appropriate for me as a father."
Xie Xun chuckled.
"What's 'living a good life', what's 'quite suitable', what is father talking about?"
"It's nothing. I'll talk to you later when I get back in the evening."
Xie Xun put down his pen, placed the letter by the window to dry the ink, turned around and took out a blue-grey paper umbrella:
"Let's go, take you down the mountain to meet a family friend."
"Family friends? Our sixth generation noble family, in this small Longcheng County, or even in Jiangzhou City, are there any families who can have family friends with our Xie family?"
Xie Xun nodded calmly: "If I hadn't met this family friend, how could my father have built a pagoda in this county and this temple?"
Xie Ling Jiang was stunned.
…
"First of all, I didn't mess with any of you."
Ouyang Rong reasoned seriously.
"Secondly, I have not expressed any support at all for the marriage that my aunt forced me into. Even if in the unlikely event that my junior sister indulges in male sex and eats my face and agrees, I will politely refuse tomorrow. I want to go home without disturbing others. Great talented woman.
"Again, the child bride my aunt mentioned about pricking me with needles... seems to be called Xiu Niang. I didn't make any malicious comments. I just told her about possible illnesses in a matter-of-fact way."
"so……"
In the merit hall where the clouds and mist rolled, Ouyang Rong paused for a moment, then tried his best to coax the little wooden fish in front of him in a soft voice: "Can you return my merits?"
After a pause, he threatened slightly:
"Aren't you afraid that the Buddha will revoke your business license if you are deducting money indiscriminately? So you should pay it back to me, or you can give me another fifty V. Let's just pretend that nothing happened, okay?"
After redressing his grievances sincerely, Ouyang Rong waited expectantly for a long time, but it was quiet inside the merit tower, and the blue-gold font above the small wooden fish remained motionless:
[Merit: ninety]
"Grass!"
Ouyang Rong threw down his sleeves and left.
He left this black-hearted merit tower with a straight face.
He is in a bad mood now, and adults often collapse in an instant.
I haven't even started to earn this merit, but I have deducted so much, and I still don't support the claim of wrongful deduction... I can't live this life.
Towards evening, Ouyang Rong went to Liu Ashan's house again.
It was the old closed and dark room again, where they had to stand, lie down, and kneel before meeting each other. It was also the dull and depressing atmosphere when he didn't speak.
Ouyang Rong didn't talk nonsense this time. He took a closer look at Liu Ashan's condition. What made him slightly relieved was that the tetanus infected by Liu Ashan's wound was probably still in the early stages. When symptoms first appeared, interventional treatment at this time was somewhat Hope, but it will take time to purify. During this period, it really depends on whether Liu Ashan’s life is strong or not.
Ouyang Rong was not sure either.
Boom——!
There was thunder outside, and the thunder and rain that had been weighing on the clouds all day poured down like a waterfall.
Ouyang Rong couldn't go out for a while, so he went to Xiangji Kitchen to pick up things and prepare to wait for the rain to subside.
Ah Shan's mother, Mrs. Liu, came over and invited him to stay and have dinner together. Ouyang Rong was not polite and only refused for a moment before agreeing.
The guest rooms provided by Donglin Temple for pilgrims are quite good, and Liu Ashan's family lives in a quite spacious courtyard.
The eating place is a semi-open house facing the courtyard. It is a bit like the living room behind the floor-to-ceiling windows in a previous life. People inside sit, kneel and sit on the floor.
The rain lines sliding down the eaves formed a water curtain, isolating the outside of the house from the inside.
Ouyang Rong was invited here by Mother Liu and sat alone for a while, waiting for the meal.
As if to save money, there were no lights in the room. He turned his head and looked at the rain curtain outside and the dark mountain peaks in the distance in a daze.
In this era of material scarcity, the night is so boring. It's pitch dark outside and there are a lot of insects and mosquitoes.
Speaking of which, Ouyang Rong found that he didn't feel homesick at night as much as before. Maybe he was used to it...
"Creak" sound.
Someone carefully pushed the door open. Ouyang Rong turned around and saw the little girl named Ah Qing holding a dinner plate and a small lamp and squeezing in from the door. Because she couldn't spare any time, she could only use her slender shoulders. Go push.
Ouyang Rong stepped forward and opened the door for her.
"Thank you, sir."
Ah Qing lowered his head and whispered, placed the lamp on the small coffee table, knelt down on the floor, and deftly placed the bowls, chopsticks and food in front of him.
Ouyang Rong found that her black hair was a little wet and stuck together. He didn't know if she had been out just now and got wet from the rain.
"Won't your mother come to eat?"
Ah Qing immersed himself in handing over the rice, shook his head slightly, and said nothing.
Ouyang Rong thought for a while and felt that Liu's mother was taking care of Ashan's meals, so he asked a stupid question.
After coughing, he took the rice and took a bite, only to find that Ah Qing was just sitting beside him, not touching the bowl.
"Uh, don't you want to eat? Eat some too, we're all welcome."
Ah Qing hesitated for a moment, and then went to scoop some rice under the concerned gaze of the young county magistrate.
Because the room was very dark, the oil lamp on the small coffee table was very bright, and could only barely illuminate the two people who were sitting on their knees eating.
Only then did Ouyang Rong use the light to see the girl in front of him clearly.
Like his brother, she was also tattooed. This was called ink punishment. It was a standard for slaves in the Zhou Dynasty. The face or body was engraved with ink characters that showed the master's authority. Even after redemption, it could never be washed away.
There is a small word "Yue" on Ah Qing's forehead, but it doesn't ruin the beauty of her little face. Instead, it makes her look even more pitiful.
She is very thin, and she is actually not too young anymore. It was an age that could be married in the Zhou Dynasty, but the nutrition of a girl cannot keep up, and her figure cannot grow at all. Her arms and legs are so thin that they look like several sugar cane sticks. He looked a bit dull as he was wearing a wide coarse cloth skirt.
But Ah Qing has a pair of big, spiritual eyes. The eyes and the whites of his eyes are like the black and white pieces of Go, clearly distinguishable.
But these dark eyes had been covered with a curtain of sadness from the first time Ouyang Rong saw them.
"Your brother will be fine."
Ah Qing seemed to be thinking about something sad, biting his chopsticks and looking at the ground in a daze, Ouyang Rong couldn't help but expressed relief.
"Thank you, sir." She buried her face and repeated.
After Ouyang Rong finished his meal, he put down his bowl and chopsticks and began to think about how to explain his "treatment plan" to Ah Qing and Liu Mu. Some of the principles he took for granted were almost impossible for them to understand and they could only blindly follow him.
Ouyang Rong was thinking about how to persuade Liu Mu and A Qing, but for a moment he didn't pay attention to the girl beside him.
After reacting, Ouyang Rong was surprised to find that A Qing did not send the bowls and chopsticks out, but moved them aside to make room for the two of them. Then she stood in front of him with her head buried, one hand Lifting up, he pulled out the wooden hairpin from his hair. The wet but shiny and clean hair was spread down. The other hand was not idle either. While Ouyang Rong was about to speak, he untied the slender belt and threw it away. He stood aside, his thin shoulders shrank, and all his clothes slipped down, leaving him completely naked - indeed, he was as slender as a peeled white sugar cane, unable to hang any clothes.
"!!!"
Although his reaction was half a beat too slow and his eyes widened, Ouyang Rong had quick eyes and quick hands and quickly stuffed the lamp on the coffee table under the low table.
The light was hidden, and most of the room was plunged into darkness. The sound of the rain outside became louder.
The extremely low orange firelight, which was "suppressed" by the table board, only illuminated a pair of bare ankles belonging to a girl, and someone's slender palms that were leaning back to support the ground in fear.
"Aqing, what are you doing?" He lowered his voice in an unbelievable tone.
In the darkness, Ah Qing didn't stop. He called out "Master" in a low voice, then stepped forward and approached Ouyang Rong.
The latter was so frightened that he quickly jumped up and backed away. At the same time, he tore off his robe with his backhand and unfolded it, catching the girl who was coming towards her, and then wrapped it tightly, revealing only a stupid little head.
Ouyang Rong pressed his little head, took a deep breath, then calmed down and asked, "Why do you want to take off your clothes?"
He asked again: "Is someone forcing you?" Magistrate Xiuguan felt angry.
"No one forces A-Qing. We are poor and have nothing to entertain the master." A-Qing shook his head blankly, "My mother and brother asked me to come, and A-Qing also volunteered...as long as the master can enjoy himself."
Ouyang Rong was silent.
Because I have been forcing Ah Qing and the people of Ah Qing’s family...
It turned out to be him.
