After Xu Youwei separated from the girl, the girl walked to the front door of her home, opened the courtyard door, turned back and smiled at him, then walked into the courtyard lightly, turned around and closed the door gently. Xu Youwei moved here not long ago, and most of the neighbors around him are unknown to him. He didn't expect that there was such a beautiful woman living opposite his house. Seeing the girl disappearing, he couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. He reluctantly withdrew his gaze, walked to the door of his house, opened the door and walked in.
The house Xu Youwei rented was not big, with only two main rooms and a kitchen. He walked into the fire kitchen and heated up the remaining food from last night. After eating in a hurry, he went to the bed to rest. He had to go to the granary for duty in the afternoon.
At the end of the next day, Xu Youwei came back from the granary and saw the woman carrying firewood at the door. There are no mountains around Baibi City, so few villagers come to the city with loads of firewood to sell, but the wood shop has chopped firewood for sale. This kind of chopped firewood is very regular, about one foot and five inches long, as thick as the mouth of a tea cup, and each stick is about the same size. Compared with the firewood sold by villagers, although it is more expensive, it is very dry because it takes a long time to dry, and it is not easy to smoke when burned.
After the residents in the city bought the wood, they would hire drivers to drive donkey carts to deliver the wood to their homes. There was a large pile of firewood piled in front of the girl's house, and she was the only one carrying it there. Xu Youwei walked over quickly, rolled up his sleeves and prepared to help, and asked, "Why didn't the coachman help you move in?"
The girl straightened up, wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, and said, "He thought the money I gave him was too little, so he unloaded the firewood from the car and drove away." Xu Youwei said nothing. Instead, he helped the girl move all the firewood into the yard and piled it under the awning outside the fire kitchen.
After finishing his work, the girl brought water from the well in a copper basin and asked him to clean his hands. After Xu Youwei washed his hands, he took the towel handed over by the other party. While wiping his hands, he looked into the main room and asked curiously: "Why don't you see your family? Are you the only one who lives alone?" The girl smiled. , said: "I only have one brother. He does business in the city and comes home very late every day."
The girl didn't invite him to sit in the room, so he had to turn around and leave. Just after taking a step, he suddenly remembered something and turned around and said, "I haven't asked you what your name is yet?" The girl smiled sweetly and said, "You call me Ayu. That's all." Ayu sent him outside the courtyard gate and said, "Thank you, official." Xu Youwei waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "It's just a small thing, so there's no need to thank you."
At noon the next day, Xu Youwei was having lunch at home when the courtyard door was suddenly knocked twice. The sound was very soft, like a woman knocking. He walked over and opened the door, only to see Ayu standing outside, holding a thin porcelain bowl in his hand, with a smile on his face: "Official, my brother brought back some venison yesterday. I cooked it and sent a bowl over. Let me give you a taste." Obviously, Ayu wanted to thank him for helping to carry firewood yesterday.
Xu Youwei happily invited her into the house. After Ayu entered the room, he put the flowered porcelain bowl on the table. Seeing that there was only a bowl of rice and a bowl of vegetables on the table, he was a little surprised: "Master, why do you eat so easily?" Xu Youwei smiled and said : "I work as an errand in the yamen and don't have time to cook, so I can only deal with it briefly."
"Oh, the official is not married yet? Then he should marry a woman and take good care of himself."
Xu Youwei did not answer, but said: "Ayu, have you eaten?" Seeing Ayu nodding, he said: "Then let me pour you a cup of tea." Ayu sat down at the table and took the tea from him Tea cup, took a sip and said: "Try the venison quickly and see how my cooking is good?" Xu Youwei picked up a piece with chopsticks and put it in his mouth, chewed it a few times, and nodded repeatedly saying it was delicious. When Ayu heard this, she laughed happily.
The beauty brought delicious food, which whetted Xu Youwei's appetite. Like the wind sweeping away the remaining clouds, he swept away the food in a short time. After he finished eating, Ayu took the initiative to help him clean up the dishes and take them to the hot kitchen to wash them. Xu Youwei stood behind Ayu and looked at her back. Ayu had a graceful figure, a wide and narrow back, and a head of black hair flowing down like a waterfall, which made him miss her. Xu Youwei thought silently in his heart: "I don't comb my hair in the evening, my silk hair is draped on my shoulders, and it gracefully falls on my lap. How can I not be pitiful?"
Xu Youwei has noticed that Ayu called him an official yesterday, but today he changed his name to an official. At that time, women usually called their husbands officials. Although Ayu called him this, it was only a word difference, which showed that she obviously wanted to get close to him.
Xu Youwei couldn't restrain his inner impulse, so he walked up and hugged Ayu Yingying's slender waist, holding her tightly in his arms. Ayu didn't struggle, she just stopped what she was doing. Xu Youwei put his cheek against the back of her neck, smelled the fragrance of her hair, and said softly: "Ayu, I know you like me, right?" Although Ayu didn't answer, Xu Youwei He felt her delicate body tremble slightly, as if her heart was moved and she could not control her emotions.
"Ayu, you are not married and I am not married, why can't we become husband and wife?"
Ayu suppressed the turmoil in her heart and said calmly: "Guardian, I am a woman from a good family and I cannot live with you. If you really want to marry me, you can go to my house tomorrow night and propose marriage to my brother in person."
"Okay, I'll go, I will definitely go!"
The next night, Xu Youwei carried a gift box to the house opposite and knocked on the door. It was Ayu who opened the door for him. After Ayu bolted the door, she led him into the house. As soon as Xu Youwei entered the door, he saw a man standing up from the table. He looked to be about twenty-five or six years old, of medium build, with thick black eyebrows, bright eyes, and a short beard under his lips. When he saw Xu Youwei, he bowed with a smile and said, "Mr. Xu, I've been waiting for your visit." Xu Youwei stepped forward quickly, put the gift box on the table, raised his hands and returned the salute: "Brother, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. .”
After the two parties sat down respectively, Xu Youwei looked at each other and said, "May I ask my brother's name?"
"My surname is Pan and my given name is Furu."
Xu Youwei nodded and said: "Brother Pan, my sister Ayu and I fell in love at first sight and want to be friends with Qin and Jin. I come to see my brother tonight and hope that he will be successful." Pan Furu smiled and said: "Mr. Xu, Mingren Don’t do secret things, open the skylight and speak openly, I am not Ayu’s brother, I am a general under Song Jingang’s command.”
"Ah?" When Xu Youwei heard this, he stood up in shock, "You? You guys..." He turned his head and looked at Ayu who was standing aside. Ayu said nothing, just smiled charmingly at him.
"Mr. Xu, don't be impatient. Please sit down and listen to what I have to say." Pan Furu said and made a "please" gesture.
Xu Youwei looked at him and then at Ayu. Ayu nodded slightly at him. Xu Youwei hesitated for a while and then sat down. Pan Furu said in a calm tone: "Mr. Xu, I have no ill intentions when I see you today. I just want to ask you for a favor."
"What's the deal?"
"Help us transport a batch of things into the granary."
"Absolutely impossible!"
"Mr. Xu, don't be too busy to refuse." Pan Furu said and winked at Ayu. Ayu understood, turned around and entered the back room. After a while, she brought a peach wood tray and placed it on the table. Pan Furu lifted off the red silk on the tray, and it turned out to be ten yellow gold bars. The gold bars glowed dazzlingly under the candlelight. When Xu Youwei saw it, his eyes widened.
"This is one thousand taels of gold, enough to buy a manor, thousands of hectares of fertile land, and hundreds of slaves." Pan Furu smiled and said, "Mr. Xu, I know that you have a special affection for Ayu, so I have made preparations in this house. I bought a new house. If you agree, you can marry Ayu tonight. After that, you can take Ayu and these one thousand taels of gold, fly away, find a stable place, buy a lot of land and a beautiful house, and become a rich family. Weng, wouldn’t it be great to live a happy life?”
After hearing this, Xu Youwei glanced at Ayu, then at the ten gold bars, and couldn't help but feel a little moved. Pan Furu saw it, picked up the tea cup with a smile and said, "Mr. Xu, you are not busy, you can weigh it carefully. Come, please have tea." Xu Youwei picked up the tea cup and took a sip, and calmed down to think. To be fair, the offer offered by the other party was indeed tempting. One thousand taels of gold, plus a beautiful lady. This temptation was indeed big enough, and no one could easily resist it. Although he is an official now, he is only a seventh-rank Sige. At present, there are disputes in the world and heroes are vying for hegemony. It is not certain who will own this country in the future. It is better to seize the ready-made one. Thinking of this, he made up his mind, put down the tea cup and said, "Okay, I promise you!"
When Pan Furu heard this, he laughed loudly and said: "Mr. Xu is indeed a sensible person. Well, a good night is worth a thousand pieces of gold, so I won't disturb you. The matter is urgent, and Pan will serve wine to congratulate Mr. Xu another day. ." After that, he stood up and cupped his hands, turned around and walked out, gently closing the door.
Needless to say, both Pan Furu and Ayu were sent by Song Jingang.
Song Jingang is a smart man. He knows that his second brother is consuming his food and grass by confronting him, but there is nothing he can do about it. Although Liu Wuzhou occupied a large area of territory east of Hedong, he was far from establishing effective rule. The Tang army's resistance forces scattered throughout the country were still very active. Therefore, the food and fodder for Song Jingang's tens of thousands of troops had to be transported from the far north. Not only was the distance long, but the second brother often sent small groups of troops to cut off his food routes, causing his food and fodder supply to be intermittent. In desperation, Song Jingang could only let his soldiers go around robbing people's food to supplement military supplies.
Of course, Song Jingang also wanted to cut off the Tang army's food supply. However, his second brother was stationed in Baibi, with his back to Guanzhong. It was impossible to cut off his food route, so he could only make plans for the granary. He planned to send people to Baibi City to find an opportunity to burn down the Tang army's granary. By chance, Liu Ruolan came to visit her husband in the military camp. She saw him looking melancholy and asked him why he was worried. Song Jingang told her about his situation and his intention to send people to burn down the Tang army's granary.
Liu Ruolan pondered for a moment and said: "My maid Ayu is smart and beautiful. If you send her along, you will have miraculous results." For her husband, Liu Ruolan also spent a lot of money, even her own personal maid. .
Pan Furu took Ayu and others to Baibi City and lurked. He found that the Tang Army's granary was heavily guarded and it was difficult to get close to it, let alone enter it. Therefore, he had to find a mole. The reason why they targeted Xu Youwei was not without purpose. As the saying goes, flies don't look at seamless eggs. The spy who was sent first told Pan Furu that Xu Youwei not only rented a house to live outside, but also often took advantage of the darkness to change into civilian clothes and go to a brothel to have fun. Obviously, he is a pleasure seeker. So Pan Furu sent someone to spend a lot of money to move the family living opposite Xu Youwei and arranged for Ayu to live in...
