Today's affairs in the academy have ended, and Bai Jinqing ran alone to prepare gifts and invitations. Shao Xi saw that nothing happened now, so he said hello to Hu Yushan and others and left Bailu Academy, intending to return to Stargazing Inn to continue training.
When Old Wu, who was waiting outside the college, saw Shao Xi coming out, he asked: "You took away the remaining core of the fruit that I gnawed last night, and this morning you bought a wooden box to put it in. What is it for?" ?I sat outside thinking about it all morning and couldn’t figure it out.”
Shao Xi glanced at Old Wu and said nonchalantly: "This is a gift for Old Master Bai."
"What?"
Old Wu's mouth opened wide, and a pair of yellow eyes stared at Shao Xi in surprise, wondering if he was crazy? Did you give Mr. Bai Ding the two remaining fruit cores you gnawed last night as a gift?
Shao Xi looked at Old Wu with a "don't make a fuss" expression and said, "I gave it to Old Master as a gift. He liked it very much and especially thanked me. I have to thank you for this."
After saying that, Shao Xi turned around and walked towards the Stargazing Inn, leaving Lao Wu standing there with his eyes wide open and his mouth wide open for a long time without reacting until Shao Xi called him.
"Old guy, why are you in such a daze? Why don't you leave quickly? You're hungry. Find a place to eat."
"Huh? Oh! Here we come."
Old Wu frowned and shook his head as he followed, all the while wondering what was going on. Why were the two cores given away as gifts? How could Mr. Bai Ding like two chewed fruit cores? Something feels wrong.
…
Back in the inn room, Shao Xi reached out and picked up the cowhide satchel, took out all the contents and placed them on the table.
Since the last time he learned about the priceless gadgets at Taihe Trading Company, Shao Xi has been much more cautious in keeping these things. Now the glass beads, "Fairy's Tears" and the Sky Eye Stones are all wrapped into small cloth bags. .
Shao Xi counted these items, and now there are six glass beads left, and three "Fairy Tears". Excluding the Nine Eyes Sky Stone, only the twelve Sky Eye Stones that Wu Zhina gave him were left. . Another most important thing is a small prism that he spent a lot of effort to complete.
The things in front of him were all carefully selected by Shao Xi and left with the best quality.
The best and most beautiful glass bead, Shao Xi, gave it to Uzhina when he left the grassland. Although the six beads in his hand are not as good as that one, two of them are relatively special. They are two beads that have been added with phosphorus powder. Yes, where does the phosphorus powder come from? You have to ask Guo Youde.
Because the chemical properties of yellow phosphorus are too reactive, only two pellets were produced after a lot of effort during production. These two translucent glass beads will emit a faint light in the dark after being illuminated by light. In this era, they can be called luminous pearls.
The cloud texture of the other four glass beads also looks very beautiful and the colors are relatively rich. Although they are a little worse than the one in Uzhina's hand, they can be considered to be of high quality.
There is nothing much to say about the three "Fairy Tears". Of course, they have fewer impurities, they look more transparent, their individual sizes are more moderate, their shapes are more graceful, and there is nothing special in other aspects.
As for the prism, it is about the length of a toothpick and less than one centimeter wide. I tried to make many of them at first, but either too many impurities were mixed in during the process, or they cracked. After all, the conditions were limited, and it was still difficult to make something with a non-spherical surface.
But this prism is the one that Shao Xi is most satisfied with. It looks very transparent overall, with almost no impurities or bubbles, and the shape is also very standard. Only two of this quality were made. He and Guo Youde each kept one and threw away the others.
This is also Shao Xi's most precious thing. Because it is too brittle and easy to break, it is wrapped one layer on the left and one on the right with cloth.
As for the twelve best-quality Sky Eye Stones, Shao Xi planned to pack them together with the Nine Eyes Sky Stone as bargaining chips in exchange for benefits with the Tang Sect. Anyway, there is no use keeping these things by himself, so he might as well trade them with them for treasures. .
Shao Xi picked out one of the four Yunxia glazed beads, then rewrapped the other items and put them back into the cowhide satchel.
Asking Lao Wu to call Ning'er over, Shao Xi took out a piece of broken silver from his arms and stuffed it into Ning'er's hand and said, "Go and buy a beautiful box for me. Remember to ask for brocade covering and soft lining. , use it to put this bead, the more luxurious and beautiful it looks, the better, you can keep the rest of the money for your pocket money."
Ning'er looked at the broken piece of silver in her hand and asked with surprise: "I just bought a box. Why did the master give me so much silver? There will be a lot of money left after buying the box. The master said he would leave it to me as pocket money. Isn’t this too much?”
Old Wu smiled and said to Ning'er: "Our young master is now a rich man, and this little money is nothing to him. From now on, you must get used to having more pocket money than others."
Ning'er looked incredulous after hearing what Lao Wu said. Looking at the young man in front of him, he was only two or three years older than himself, but he was already what his grandfather said was a rich man. Moreover, he seemed to have no airs about him, and he was so kind to his servants.
Shao Xi smiled and called Ning'er to his side, looked him up and down, and said, "I was in a hurry last night and didn't buy you some decent clothes. After you went out to buy a box today, use the remaining money to buy something you like. Clothes and food you like. I said, from now on, just treat me as your elder brother, and don’t call me Young Master anymore. As long as it’s within my ability, I will give you the best.”
After saying that, he also looked up at Old Wu.
Old Wu was moved in his heart. He smiled and nodded but didn't say much.
Ning'er blinked her big eyes and looked at Shao Xi, and after a while she said, "Then I will call you brother? One of you is my grandfather, and the other is my brother. From now on, you will be Ning'er's relatives. Ning'er will serve you all my life."
Shao Xi was immediately amused by Ning'er's words.
"Silly girl! How can we let you serve us all your life? When you grow up, you will get married. When the time comes, your grandfather and brother will prepare a thick dowry for you, so that you can get married in a glorious way."
When Ning'er heard this, she shook her head, pursed her lips, and said, "Ning'er won't marry! Ning'er will stay with you all her life. Don't drive Ning'er away. Ning'er will be obedient."
Shao Xi and Lao Wu looked at each other and laughed in unison. Unexpectedly, Ning'er was a child who valued friendship.
"Silly boy, I'm not driving you away. Even if you get married in the future, you are still my granddaughter and your brother's sister. We are still a family."
Old Wu really likes the girl in front of him. She is clever, well-behaved, affectionate and righteous. Now he is very happy to have such a good granddaughter.
Unexpectedly, Ning'er shook her head desperately and said, "No marriage, no marriage! I won't marry anyone, I won't go anywhere, I will stay with you."
As he spoke, the child shed tears.
This moment made Shao Xi and Lao Wu panic. Why did they say this so well that they suddenly started crying? It seems that this child has lost his relatives for a long time and has suffered a lot in these years. Now he regards them as the closest people in his heart and his only support in this world.
"Okay, okay, if you don't want to get married, don't get married! We Ning'er can get married if we want to, and if we don't want to get married, we can't get married. Ning'er has the final say, and we all listen to Ning'er."
Shao Xi never thought in his wildest dreams, how could this child be so stubborn on this matter? No matter what, I'd better coax her up first. It's hard to explain why someone saw her crying when she went out.
When Ning'er saw that Shao Xi and Lao Wu had promised not to let her get married, she burst into tears and laughed.
"Ning'er has lost her parents since she was a child, but now she finally has her grandfather and brother. I will never be separated from my family again, and I will never be a homeless little beggar again."
"Ning'er, don't worry, you will never be a little beggar again, but since you recognize me as your brother, shouldn't you tell your past stories to your brother? Let your brother know what Ning'er was like when he was a child? These years How did it go?"
Ning'er nodded vigorously, blinked her big eyes and began to recall her childhood and experiences over the years.
"My family originally lived in Tanxi Village, twelve miles south of Daliang City. I remember that when I was a child, my parents farmed for a living. On weekdays, my father would carry water and firewood to the nearby nunnery to supplement the family income, and my mother would also do some Mending clothes, embroidery work.”
"Then your parents died of illness?"
Ning'er shook her head, with an expression of pain and fear on her face, and said: "One day when I was four years old, my father and mother went to the nunnery to deliver firewood and mended clothes, but they didn't want to do that. A fire broke out in the nunnery, and neither the nuns nor my parents escaped alive. Later, I heard from the villagers that a group of men in black rushed into the nunnery and killed everyone in the nunnery. They even burned down the nunnery, and my parents were among them."
After hearing Ning'er's story, Shao Xi's memory of Stroke Yuyan was instantly activated. The scene of a group of men in black chasing him and Lao Wu during the fire in Fengjiazhuang seemed to be right in front of him. The pain on Feng Yuyan's body after the man in black knocked them over was like the feeling of suffocation before death. Personal experience is common.
How similar the scene is!
Old Wu also looked solemn at this time, seeming to be thinking about something, but did not speak. Shao Xi knew that he didn't want to say anything and asking was in vain, so he continued to ask Ning'er.
"Have you heard who those men in black are? The leader among them is a man in black robes wearing a black cloak? And how did you get here all these years?"
Ning'er tilted her head and thought for a while, then shook her head and said: "I only heard that those people are very mysterious, but I don't know anything else. Since my parents passed away, someone wanted to sell me to a rich family as a child bride. I After escaping, I have been begging on the streets and became a little beggar. I have been bullied all these years, and now I finally met my grandfather and brother."
Shao Xi sighed, patted Ning'er on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry! From now on, you will have a family and relatives, and you will no longer be bullied."
Ning'er nodded happily, "Then I'll go buy a box for my brother and a few sets of clothes. I'll be back soon."
After saying that, he turned around and ran towards the door.
Shao Xi looked at Ning'er's back, pulled his neck and asked again, "Ning'er, what's your last name?"
"My last name is Su!"
"Oh, your surname is Su, huh? Suning?"
