"Dong dong dong..." Someone called out from outside the study door: "Master, we made soup for you, would you like some?"
When Bai Changqing was in the study, no one else dared to come in. Even the Xu sisters could only knock on the door and get permission before they could open the door and come in.
Rubbing his swollen and painful forehead, Bai Changqing leaned back in the chair, with a faint smile on his face: "Come in."
The Xu sisters all came, one behind the other, one of them was carrying a small soup can, the other was holding a tray with a pair of bowls and chopsticks.
"Master, take a rest. I have been boiling this soup for a day. It is a nourishing recipe passed down from my family. Butler Zhang said it is very good after seeing it, and the soup is very fragrant. Please try it!"
Sister Xu Zhiyuan scooped a bowl of soup out of the jar, and sister Xu Zhidi brought the bowl to Bai Changqing with a smile on her face.
Seeing the two sisters trying to please him, Bai Changqing's inner gloom dissipated a lot. People say that spring comes out of dead trees. He used to think it was an exaggeration, but now he understands it deeply. Every time he looks at the clear smiles of the two women, he becomes more energetic.
I blew it and took a sip, but I can’t say it’s really good.
After drinking the soup, he picked up the ingredients in the soup with chopsticks and ate them. Seeing the happy looks of the two sisters, Bai Changqing stretched out his bowl and asked for another bowl. He knew very well that if he ate more, it meant that their craftsmanship was good, which would make the two women happier than just a few words of praise.
After getting married these days, Bai Changqing was surprised that he still had such a careful and gentle side. He had been with his first wife for decades but had never been like this before. Maybe people really do change?
After finishing the two bowls of soup, the two women were really happy. Xu Zhiyuan put away the dishes, while Xu Zhidi wanted to be coquettish with Bai Changqing as usual, and finally got her wish and shrank into Bai Changqing's arms, like a well-behaved kitten. Xu Zhiyuan, on the other hand, felt distressed and walked behind Bai Changqing to silently massage Bai Changqing's shoulders and back of neck.
"If you're tired, just rest, right? It's so late at night." Xu Zhiyuan couldn't bear that her husband was tired, so she hesitated before persuading her.
"Yeah. You guys go to bed first, and I'll sit there for a while."
Xu Zhiyuan stood behind Bai Changqing while talking, but her eyes quickly swept around the table, and the expression in her eyes also changed slightly, but returned to normal after a moment.
After pressing for a while, Xu Zhidi in his arms seemed to want to sleep. Bai Changqing couldn't bear the two women to stay in the study with him, so he asked them to go back to the room to rest instead of staying here. After the two women left, he picked up the papers on the table again and continued to read them. At the same time, he wrote some inner plans and thoughts in an essay notebook beside him.
There is a word called "different dreams in the same bed", which is perfectly suitable to describe Bai Changqing's romantic marriage of an old man and a young wife. To be more precise, it was a one-sided "strange dream", which was a bit pitiful for Bai Changqing.
Carrying the soup cans and bowls and chopsticks that were brought back, there was no need for the Xu sisters to send them to be cleaned by themselves. Immediately after leaving the study, servants took the things over, while the two sisters chatted about how Bai Changqing had eaten well. Duoxiang, while discussing whether to make some other soup tomorrow?
Although their voices sounded sleepy along the way, it could be heard that the two women were still very happy. The servants around him also smiled knowingly and followed him.
By the time everything was packed, it was already late at night. The two women went to bed wearing loose nightgowns, turned off the lights and went to sleep, and the servants could finally have a rest.
"Sister, have you seen it?"
"I see it."
Even in the dead of night, even on the bed in the bedroom, the two sisters were very cautious if they wanted to speak small words. They even went so far as to communicate by writing on each other's palms with their fingers instead of speaking out. Even their hands were hidden under the thin quilt to avoid being seen.
"What are those?"
"It's like an old document from the Ministry of Household Affairs, about the wartime food distribution strategy."
"Are these things that the Ministry of Finance will do later? Are they considered useful information?"
"Of course. Mr. Wang has come on a mission. Let us pay attention to his every move. It is still the old rule. We will send the news back after he leaves tomorrow."
This kind of communication by writing with fingers and palms can only be done after special training. Most people can recognize one or two words, but it will be inaccurate if they are written in paragraphs.
"But sister, I think Lao Bai is very kind to us. If we do this, we won't hurt him, right?"
"Very good? His heir wanted to kill me with poison before. If I hadn't been clever, our bodies would have rotted. Do you think he ever avenged you and me? It was just a punishment with a cane. Even being kicked out of the house is not enough. Do you still feel guilty about this?"
"I don't know, I just think he is sincerely good to us. Besides, that is his biological son. Isn't it normal to be reluctant to kill him?"
"Zhidi, are you really emotional?" Xu Zhiyuan felt a little uneasy. She didn't expect that her sister would suddenly say this.
"No way! My sister is worrying too much. She just can't bear it. I think Lao Bai is a good person."
Xu Zhiyuan was extremely vigilant and warned: "If you are unstable, you should think about that person, his appearance, and his eyes. You should understand what will happen if we fall in love with Bai Changqing." The end. You won’t forget the tragedy of those people who were tied to the stone pillars and tortured, right? Besides, you and my family..."
Seeing her sister mention "that person" and "those eyes", Xu Zhidi's body trembled unconsciously. She knew that her sister was talking about Mr. Shen of the Xuanqing Guard, whose eyes were as cold as poisonous snakes that often appeared in the past. In her dreams, she was accompanied by scenes of torture that she had watched over and over again.
But when she arrived at the White Mansion, Xu Zhidi rarely had nightmares like this. Now that her sister mentioned it, she felt a cold sweat break out down her back.
Feeling her sister's fear, Xu Zhiyuan breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out her arms to hug her tightly, patting her back to comfort her: "This is our fate. If we follow the mission honestly, we can live, and maybe we can be free in the future. That People always trust their subordinates, and I trust him on this. But if we have thoughts that we shouldn't have, we will definitely die without a burial place."
"Well, I know sister, I won't think like that anymore."
"It's good to know. In addition, these messages are aimed at the Ministry of Revenue, not Lao Bai himself. Moreover, Mr. Wang wants to use them for reference and will not attack Lao Bai."
The last sentence added finally soothed the knot in Xu Zhidi's heart. The two sisters chatted for a while before falling asleep. Bai Changqing, on the other hand, came back just before dawn and lay down for a while. He was pretending to be worried and didn't think much about his young wife at all.
Early the next morning, after Bai Changqing went to work, the two sisters said they wanted to take a dip in cold water. They used the time when no one was around to take out the hidden Qianli Note and spread the general content of what they saw in Bai Changqing's study yesterday. It uses the encrypted writing method taught in the previous training. It is impossible for people who don't know the skills to understand it.
