When Duke Bolu and his family passed under the willow tree, the people near Yanzidi opened their doors and knelt down on the roadside to welcome him.
The Duke likes to raise beauties, and the beauties in his mansion have cheeks like peaches and plums, eyebrows like distant mountains, and are all good at singing and dancing.
But to say that the Duke truly loved him, he was probably only his married wife. This lady was several years older than the Duke. She had been with the Duke since she was a child. She was both his sister and his wife, and she took good care of him.
The Duke saw a signboard on the street in his sedan chair. It turned out to be a shop for mounting calligraphy and paintings.
In the shop, a man in his thirties led his thirteen- or fourteen-year-old daughter out to meet the Duke. I don’t know what the Duke had in mind, so he left his sedan chair here.
This little girl has light clouds on her temples, a cherry on her lips, and white teeth like the silver moon. When she saw a big shot coming, she specially gave her a blessing.
Someone went to deliver the message, and soon the lady sent the girl next to her to whisper a few words to the Duke.
I thought the county guild would be furious, but he smiled lightly and said, "Look at the butterflies on this girl's clothes, how vividly they are embroidered. Go and tell the lady that I will find an embroiderer for her."
But the girl asked, "Did you embroider this butterfly yourself?"
"Exactly."
The lady heard what the Duke said from behind, so she sent someone to send a message, "There are many embroiderers in the Duke's mansion, and this one is not missing."
The Duke was helpless, knowing that he would definitely not be able to take this beauty away, so he was not angry and asked someone to carry the sedan chair and set off.
The woman was only one step away from the land of wealth. Unfortunately, she was intercepted by the lady, and she had no chance.
When the Duke saw this, his wife tried her best to tell the men and horses to move faster. The people in front were naturally much faster.
The Duke's wife saw an old man selling embroidery at a stall near Wusang Bridge. After looking at it for a moment, she realized that although the embroidery technique was not very neat, the stitching was very delicate.
She smiled and said, "If I have to have an embroiderer, I might as well have this little girl named Nan Xiu."
Then he took the old man's granddaughter back.
This girl is not amazingly beautiful, but she is upright and there is nothing wrong with her appearance. However, she is too dull. Apart from learning embroidery from the embroiderers every day, she doesn't care about dressing up.
One day, the lady called Nanxiu to go.
"There is a dog locked up in the woodshed in Mrs. Ru's backyard. The Duke is very fond of that dog, but when the Duke brought it back, it was seriously injured. Please give the dog some medicine for me."
Nanxiu didn't ask why she wanted to go, and even if she had a lot of heart, she wouldn't think too much about it. She was always so dull.
When she got there, what appeared in front of her was not a dog, but a person, and she became confused. Wasn't it said that a dog was locked up? How could it be a person
This man was covered in wounds, even his face was mottled with bruises, no one was good, and there were more than a dozen scars on his wrists.
Nanxiu didn't care about his appearance, she took out the medicine that the lady mentioned and was about to pour it into the tea on the side and feed it to him.
The door of the woodshed was suddenly kicked open by someone. The person was so impatient that he was about to stomp Nan Xiu to the ground with one kick. When he came to her side, he stopped his kick and yelled, "Get out!" He took this wounded man away.
Nanxiu never wanted to stand out in the crowd. Even if she didn't understand what happened today, she now understood that the lady wanted her to kill the man.
Everyone in the house said that the Duke was not easy to mess with, and the maid who was combing his hair would kill him if she hurt him, but that day, he took back the kick in her heart.
They say the Duke is ruthless, but when he looks at that man and cares about him so much, is he really ruthless
Before Yan Chen came to Beijing, the Duke's court clothes were damaged by moths, and none of the embroiderers dared to take responsibility. She could just pretend to be stupid, and even if the wife blamed her, she wouldn't be killed.
She couldn't remember why she had to help mend it. Risking her head and repairing a piece of clothing that was almost impossible to make exactly the same as before, she also understood that this was the first time she had made a fool of herself in the county government's mansion.
It seems that he heard him say, "Come forward, can you mend these clothes?"
Nanxiu's heart was beating fast. She couldn't help but take the clothes and said, "This is a pattern woven with Li'er's makeup technique."
Looking at his dubious look, Nanxiu suddenly wanted to show off all the embroidery skills she had learned in the past few years in front of him. She wanted him to praise her. Naturally, she didn't understand why she had such a stupid idea. .
One day and one night, she didn't put in any water, just to repair the hole. If she wanted to repair it exactly the same, she couldn't make a mistake in every stitch.
The Duke didn't promise her any benefits, but she just wanted to see his smile. Even if she didn't eat or drink for two more days, she wouldn't be tired.
On the day the repairs were completed, she wanted to deliver the clothes to the county prince in person and saw his smile, but she eventually fainted and fell to the ground unconscious.
Everyone said she was stupid. If she didn't repair it this time, the madam would definitely kill her. These embroiderers understood that the madam was more terrifying than the prince. The prince only put happiness and anger on his face, but the madam smiled. , but can plan to kill someone.
When Ruan Xiu Niang was collecting clothes in the evening, she told Nan Xiu that the Duke brought back a male favorite. He was a very beautiful man, and none of the beauties in the house were as beautiful as him. He bought a Guanyin for the Duke, and the carving method was simply superb. , the staff in the palace were full of praise, the Guanyin was so lifelike, and the veins of the leaves on the pure vase were clearly carved.
She thought of the man who was seriously injured in the past, but she couldn't remember his face. She must have been injured too much that day and his facial features were severely damaged.
When the Duke left the house, he originally wanted to take his male favorite named Cui Ying with him, but he suddenly developed a rash. He could not see the wind or light, let alone touch anyone, otherwise he would be infected.
As a result, the Duke had to keep him in the palace, but his wife never succeeded. Nanxiu saw his wife coercing and enticing the retainers left by the Duke more than once, and wanted to kill Cui Ying.
The Duke should have expected that his wife would do this.
Since the court service issue was resolved, Madam always said she would reward her, but never took any action.
Just when Nan Xiu thought that the reward would not be fulfilled, Madam took the initiative to ask her what reward she wanted.
Before Nanxiu could speak, she said she was not allowed to leave the county government's mansion. This was the only thing she could do, and she could agree to anything else.
Nan Xiu wanted to ask if she could be promised to the Duke.
Of course, no matter how stupid she was, she would not ask this, and she would not make fun of her grandpa's life.
She didn't know what she wanted, so she said casually, "Nanxiu wants to write to Grandpa, but she can't write. Please help Nanxiu find a gentleman to teach Nanxiu a few words."
The lady agreed immediately and said that she would let the Duke's staff teach her.
She looked at Madam's weird smile and slowly realized that Madam must be looking for that person to teach him how to write.
Going back that night, Nanxiu thought about it all night, why did the lady arrange it like this.
She was not smart at all. She only figured out what others were trying to figure out after a few sticks of incense. Madam wanted to push her to Cui Ying.
She had never seen Cui Ying's true face, and she didn't care at all what kind of man he was.
Once a woman puts others in her heart first, it will be difficult for others to come in again. No matter how good Cui Ying is, she can't compare to the prince.
Nanxiu knew that she was not worthy of the Duke, and she would never dare to miss the Duke's sweetheart.
Since nothing could reveal the truth, she pretended to be stupid and called him sister.
The first time she saw this tall man, she was stunned. Nanxiu could hardly help laughing. She had never made others laugh. Her sisters all said she was too stupid and her jokes were meaningless.
The strange thing is that he didn't really say anything about his man, but let her make the same mistake again and again.
Cui Ying didn't care at all whether she knew his identity, and Nan Xiu didn't care at all whether Cui Ying was a boy or a girl.
Cui Ying taught her to write. Although she couldn't understand it, she thought the characters were really beautiful. Each character was regular and neat, and every stroke was powerful. Madam always talked about character when appreciating calligraphy and paintings. At this time, she It seems that some people understand why the characters have character.
She became curious about him. Was the Duke really just obsessed with this man's appearance? Nanxiu wanted to dig out more advantages in him and prove that apart from his appearance, this person was indeed a rare person, and the county prince would only like him. She wanted to use Cui Ying to force away her delusional thoughts.
She opened her mouth to test and inquire.
In order to make Cui Ying feel that she is not smart, she always smiles at him.
It was obvious that Cui Ying hated her silly smile.
However, he would write down the answer to almost every question she asked on paper.
This man was very serious. Some people among his staff said he was arrogant, but Nanxiu felt that those people were biased against him.
He taught her to write her name, but she couldn't write it well. Nanxiu had been doing embroidery all year round, and her eyesight was getting worse. She had to get very close to her before sewing, so she couldn't help but move forward when writing.
At first, Cui Ying just touched her shoulder to make her straighten up. Later, when he saw that she couldn't change her attitude, he broke off a branch and slapped the back of her hand. He hit her every time she made a mistake, but he didn't know that it didn't hurt at all. , just deliberately to scare people. When I first entered the county government and was bullied by those people, they were really vicious. There was no injury on my face, not a single piece of my body was good. When I was in pain, I couldn't even pick up a needle and thread. In the cold winter months, Gotta wash the fabric.
When he is angry, he sometimes likes to eat the candied fruits on the table. After a while, the candied fruits are all gone.
The next time she came, she brought some of her own preserves for him.
For some reason, she didn't hate this man. While the embroidered ladies praised him for his good looks and peerless elegance, they also secretly said that he was filthy. He used to be a slut in the land of fireworks. Every time Nan Xiu came close to him, , they all felt that this person was like the dew on the flowers, clean, clear, and fragrant.
She didn't want to embarrass Cui Ying, so every time she went back at night, she would practice the words she learned during the day many times.
When she met him the next day, she wanted to make him angry and deliberately made a mess of the words she learned on the first day. Her teasing made him clench his fists in anger.
When he was so angry, Nanxiu wrote beautifully again.
He taught her thirteen days, and soon the half-month period came. Nan Xiu was a little sad. She thought that if she could never see him again, she would miss him very much.
She wanted to remind Cui Ying to be careful about his wife, so she deliberately told him what his wife said.
She asked Cui Ying if she knew Cui Zhonghe.
Of course, Nanxiu knew that Zhonghe was his calligraphy, and she even learned to write his calligraphy. She just wanted to expose the madam's affairs like a fool. Cui Ying was very smart and must have a way to deal with it.
She said, "He is my fiancé."
Unexpectedly, this sentence made Cui Ying unable to help but speak. As soon as Cui Ying opened his mouth, he had to explain why he was pretending to be a woman and kept silent to let her misunderstand.
Cui Ying said that he was worried that she would be shy, so he did not tell the truth.
Nan Xiu wanted to laugh at him, but he could find such excuses, which showed that he was really panicking.
She also told him that the lady had found a wife for her, saying that she was going to be betrothed to a staff member of the county government, named Cui Ying, whose given name was Zhonghe. She also specifically asked him if he knew about the existence of this person.
She was particularly curious about Cui Ying's expression under the veil at this time, but it was a pity that the long veil covered her face, so she couldn't see anything clearly.
Later, she had a dream. She dreamed that her grandpa was sick, and she was so anxious that she wanted to cry. The female family members could not leave the house, and only the staff had some opportunities to leave the house.
Nanxiu thought that maybe she could ask Cui Ying to help her, but she didn't know if Cui Ying was willing to go.
He agreed, saying that he would visit her grandpa soon, and also promised to send her the gold and silver she had saved. Nan Xiu believed in him, and since he promised, he would definitely do it.
But before Cui Ying came back, she suddenly felt a twinge in her heart. The pain shot through her body, and her limbs were all cold.
She seemed to understand something and sat in the room without eating or drinking.
She knew that Cui Ying didn't tell her the truth, but she didn't blame him. She was even grateful to him because he was worried that she wouldn't be able to bear it.
Cui Ying wanted to comfort her, but she could see that Nan Xiu was irritable for no reason. She didn't like Cui Ying trying to please her like this. In her heart, the person the Duke liked should be as high-ranking as the Duke. He was so low to the point that In the dust, how can one be worthy of being a prince
All the anger turned into tears. She didn't know why she felt so wronged, and she cried until the sky was dark and the earth was dark.
Maybe it was at this moment that she understood that she really had nothing.
Cui Ying said that he would continue to teach her to write, but she no longer wanted to be entangled with him. Whenever she saw him, she would think of the Duke.
It's a pity that Cui Ying doesn't know about this.
He asked Nanxiu what she wanted, and Nanxiu deliberately said she wanted a family.
She wanted to embarrass him and torment him. Maybe at this time, Nanxiu was not so stupid anymore. She understood why Cui Ying was in a hurry when she cried, and understood why Cui Ying always punished her corporally and couldn't bear to really hurt her. .
Cui Ying knew that she had a fever, so he would give gold leaves to the embroiderers and ask them to take care of her. Every time he saw her, her clothes were fluttering, and the wind was blowing under her feet. He wanted to get to her as soon as possible. He did not run to see her, but he Going too fast. A man shouldn't be so anxious to meet a woman.
Compared with Nan Xiu, Cui Ying is too stupid.
It was he who fell into Nanxiu's trap but couldn't see clearly. He thought he was smart and thought he had everything under his control, but Nanxiu knew that Cui Ying was already attracted to her.
She said she wanted a home.
He agreed without thinking.
Nanxiu was surprised, how could he promise her? The Duke will never let him go. He dotes on Cui Ying like this. At least for a long time, he will keep Cui Ying by his side as a support. When the Duke comes back, Cui Ying will never be able to leave. But now Mrs. Now, my wife will definitely not let him go. Once he leaves, my wife will not be able to speak to the county government.
(End of chapter)