Xia Muchao did not involve Xia Chengxuan and Mei Yuanchen in the pursuit of the criminals, and sent them away as soon as everything was said and done. Xia Chengxuan was angry and walked straight to his house after leaving the meeting hall. Mei Yuanchen had to go see Xia Chengyi alone. I thought about it all the way, but found it difficult to find a solution that had both ends. When I was feeling depressed, I arrived at Xia Chengyi's dormitory.
Xia Chengyi sprained his ankle. He didn't notice anything at first, but within an hour it became bloated and he couldn't exert any strength at all. Back at the mansion, the female doctor applied some revitalizing and swelling-reducing plaster and told her not to move. Xia Chengyi has never suffered any pain since he was a child. Today, he feels a little happy to suffer from the pain of sprained foot. While I was thinking wildly, I heard a little girl report, "Princess, Master Yuanchen is here." She was busy combing her makeup in front of the bronze mirror.
"Yiyi, is your ankle still hurting?" Mei Yuanchen came into the room and squatted down to look at Xia Chengyi's foot injury. Seeing how swollen her ankle was, she raised her head and asked in sympathy.
Xia Chengyi didn't expect Mei Yuanchen to be like this, so she hurriedly pulled down her pants and skirt to cover her ankles, and said with a blushing face, "What are you looking at! Don't you know your daughter's feet can't be seen?" After saying that, she hit Mei Yuanchen with a fist. On the arm.
Mei Yuanchen grew up with the maids and servants in the house, but never got close to girls from other families. She really didn't know about this. She stood up and said apologetically, "Yiyi, I really don't know. Please forgive me." crime."
Xia Chengyi turned to face him sideways, lowered his head and said, "Who wants you to talk about this! It's not like there is no brocade stool in the room. Why are you standing there?" Then he ordered the maid beside him, "Hehuan, go and get the doctor away." The medicine is boiled." The little girl received the instruction and whispered "Yes", walked to the tea table, picked up the prescription from the top and walked away. "You bad guy, why are you laughing?" Xia Chengyi cursed when he saw Mei Yuanchen covering his mouth and snickering.
"I stopped laughing. Yiyi, why did you learn what I did yesterday?" Mei Yuanchen replied. The two of them looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh at the same time, remembering how Mei Yuanchen opened up the wisteria twice for excuses yesterday, which was very similar to Xia Chengyi opening up the acacia today. Xia Chengyi put away his smile, reached out and pinched Mei Yuanchen's arm, feigning anger and said, "You still laugh at me, it's all the bad tricks you taught me!" Mei Yuanchen felt guilty and did not try to avoid it, letting her twist her. . Xia Chengyi felt something was wrong as soon as he twisted it, and stretched out his hand to rub it gently. He asked embarrassedly, "Why don't you hide? You got this slap for nothing." Mei Yuanchen shook his head and smiled bitterly, "But if you want you to be happy, how can I Can you go? What's the point of twisting it for you." Xia Chengyi felt happy and regretful, leaning her head gently on his shoulder, and said softly, "Then from now on, I won't hit you again." Mei Yuanchen originally wanted to He went to hug her, but then he remembered his promise to his adoptive father. His heart trembled, he pushed her away gently, and said warmly, "Yiyi, can we have a chat?" Xia Chengyi didn't notice anything strange and answered with a sweet smile. Said, "Okay."
"Yiyi, I, my adoptive father knows that I like you." Mei Yuanchen said a little stiffly.
The pink color on Xia Chengyi's pretty face just faded, then came back with a swishing sound, and she made a shy sound, saying softly, "You carried me like that in the Liuzhu Forest, not to mention that every time you return home from studying, you run to me for no reason. , it’s strange that the father doesn’t know!” There was more joy than shyness in his words. Mei Yuanchen was about to say more, but when he saw her pretty face was blushing and her eyes were shining like stars, she trembled and held it back in her throat, so she had to talk about unimportant things. The two of them were joking and time passed very quickly.
It was already midnight when she returned to Yuqiong Langyuan. Mei Yuanchen searched all over the garden but still couldn't find Haitang, so she returned to her room in despair. Today is New Year's Day, the day when Mei Yuanchen writes a letter to her parents every month.
Mei Yuanchen sat sadly in front of the Four Treasures. He picked up the pen several times and put it down several times. Finally, he made up his mind to write down everything about himself, Beach and Xia Chengyi in a letter, and told his parents frankly. The letter of a hundred words was finally finished. Mei Yuan sealed up the paint, went to the stable, took the horse, and rode to the inn to send the letter. Along the way, Mei Yuanchen felt uneasy, as if his heart was bumping up and down with his mount. The post station is only more than thirty miles away from the palace, and it takes less than half an hour on horseback. Mei Yuanchen dismounted outside the inn, handed the horse to the Yamen servant, and went straight inside.
"Steward, I want to send a letter." Mei Yuanchen stood at the director counter of the inn and said to himself.
The manager of the inn was a lowly clerk. Ever since Mei Yuanchen checked his name by mail for the first time and knew his identity, he treated him with respect every time he came. "Oh, Mr. Mei, are you here to send a letter? I will make a book for you right now!" The fat white steward of the inn hurriedly put down his work, took the book and walked to the opposite side of Mei Yuanchen, stretching out his hands. Come and get the letter. Mei Yuanchen took out the letter from his pocket and handed it to him.
"Mr. Mei, should I still send it to the Anxian Jinzhou Salt Transportation Government Office?" the steward asked in a low voice. Mei Yuanchen said, "Yes. When will the stagecoach from the capital to Anxian leave?"
The steward had finished making the list, and after thinking for a while he replied, "It's the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, and I'll definitely leave on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year at the latest." After saying that, he handed back a voucher with both hands, which had the date and time of shipment. The name of the person, the recipient and the destination of the letter are stated. The post stamp is stamped on the lower left side. Mei Yuanchen took it, folded it and put it in his pocket, thanking him, "Thank you!"
In addition to being a place for officials to travel, the post station was also used to deliver documents and letters. The person who sent the letter made a book based on the letter, and collected money according to the distance of the letter. The fee was quite expensive, and it was really unaffordable for ordinary people. However, once the person sending the mail has official or imperial status, no money is needed. All he needs to do is to register in a register. The letter sent passes through the post house, and is kept in isolation along the way. The post stamp is stamped and the itinerary is recorded separately.
"Yuanchen?" Mei Yuanchen walked to the door and suddenly heard a familiar voice calling from the left front. He quickly turned around to look, but it was Gong Yangsong, a classmate of Hua Zijian, with several servants beside him.
"Song me, you're here to send a letter too? What a coincidence." Mei Yuanchen walked over and asked. Gongyang Song came to me, patted Mei Yuanchen on the arm, and said with a smile, "Are you in a hurry? If you're not in a hurry, can you wait for me for a while?"
Mei Yuanchen pointed to the pavilion at the door and said with a smile, "The business is done, how about I wait for you here?" Gongyang Songwo replied, "It can't get any better!" After that, he walked quickly inside.
Mei Yuanchen and Gong Yangsong and I have servants around them. The reason why they come to send letters in person is to rely on their official status to send letters. There are post stations to take care of the letters along the way, so it is naturally much safer and faster. Although wealthy private merchants have considerable wealth, they do not have such rights, and they usually use escorts to send letters. The escort service is expensive, but the journey is fast, and it is not as safe as the official post. Robbery of escorts is common in Jianghu, but it is rare for anyone to attack Guanyi. It's not that the government is afraid of sending troops to arrest them, but the entrustment of official posts is usually official documents, official letters, and military reports. Firstly, they are worthless. Secondly, because the matter is serious, the harm is incalculable. Therefore, when the official post is marching, the number of post soldiers is much smaller than that of the escort, but it is much safer and smoother. Because the escort agency often entrusts valuable items, although the escorts are carefully guarded along the way, there are also occasional robberies by desperadoes, and the loss of escorts is unavoidable.
"Yuanchen, I've been waiting for you for a long time!" Mei Yuanchen was thinking about it when he heard Gongyangzhui calling me from a distance, "Let's go, there is a restaurant called "Nanguo Restaurant" nearby. The dishes are quite unique. It has a unique flavor, and the "whale sucking" aged wine inside is also a rare fine wine. I'm going to make a treat today." As he spoke, he pulled Mei Yuanchen's sleeves and walked out.
