From then on, Gongyang Nong’s most frequented place was Liluoyuan. Gradually, he figured out the habits of Twelve Niangs. From the first to seventh day of every month, she would come to Liluoyuan to sing her voice, and the rest of the time she would come to Liluoyuan. Being with the man who kept her as his wife.
He had been waiting for her to come since the first day of junior high school. Even if he could only say a word and look at her from a distance, he was satisfied in his heart.
However, unfortunately, the mother did not come to Liluoyuan on the next day of the Lunar New Year.
He couldn't bear his temper and asked for information everywhere, but the information in Liluoyuan was not cheap. No one was willing to tell him the information about Twelve Niangs for free.
Gongyang Nong had no choice but to find Chu Cheng. He had wide connections and could hear everything that happened thousands of miles away, not to mention Yujian, the small capital of Beiqiu.
Chu Cheng didn't want to tell him at first, but couldn't bear his request. Seeing his sincerity, he had to tell her that Twelve Mother was too sick to leave the house.
He wanted to go to the mansion where he followed Twelve Niangs, but he heard Chu Cheng say that Twelve Niangs were not there. She had her own home. Unless Mr. Peng specially picked her up to go to the mansion, she would stay with him there. In a few days.
Gongyang Nong was unspeakably happy when he heard this. It turned out that she was not always with him.
He found the place where Twelve Niang lived, and went to hand over invitations every day, hoping to see her. The little girl who was serving Twelve Niang said, "All the people who come to the door every day are distinguished guests, but girls can't accept them all, so please stay." Write down your name and let the girl find some free time to meet the noble man.
Gongyang Nong didn't leave his name, but he still handed out postcards every day. On each post, he said, "I hope the girl will get well soon."
The plain pen on the back of the post carefully outlines a peony flower.
She had been ill on and off for half a year. When she was able to move around, she returned to Liluoyuan to sing.
But when she came back, she would only sing once. Anyone who wanted to come and listen had paid a high price to come in. He didn’t want to go back to Gongyang’s house, and he didn’t have any money, so he had to go gambling. He liked gambling, so he learned a few tricks. In the casino, he bet one tael of silver and won back more than ten taels.
This was not enough, so he went to gamble again, and more than ten taels turned into a hundred taels. He was always very lucky, and he won nine out of ten bets.
It cost more than fifty taels of silver to go in and take a look at her, but Gong Yangnong felt that the people in Liluoyuan did a good job. If it was too cheap, he would look down on Twelve Niangs.
He didn't expect that Twelve Niang didn't come on the first day of the lunar month, nor did she come on the seventh day of the lunar month, but she came on the 15th day of the lunar month. Gongyang Nong hurried over and only looked at the backstage. He listened to her sing a few lines and then stopped.
After she finished singing, she washed her face and sat on the turret of the theater troupe to listen to her brothers singing. She was alone by the window of the turret, holding her cheek and looking at the stage. There was a sense of futility on her face that Gongyang Nong had never seen before. With such fragile wrists, I don’t know how he picked up a spear and a wooden stick on the stage, and his posture was also very graceful.
He wanted to go up to the corner tower to have a word with Twelve Niangs and ask her if she was feeling well.
But as soon as the play here ended, Mr. Peng went up to the turret, and soon came down with Twelve Niangs. The two boarded the carriage he saw last time, with a red stripe hanging around the white horse's neck. From the ribbon, Gongyang Nong could tell that it was these two horses that came to pick up Twelve Niangs every time.
Mr. Peng is an envoy from Liangzhu. Although the Gongyang family is officially a prince, the Lord Protector from Liangzhu actually outdoes the Gongyang family.
Gong Yangnong's father's family was not considered the head of the family. The current old prince was just Gongyang Nong's distant grandfather. He was slightly related to them, but he was not really close to them.
There was a middle-aged man with a pockmarked face in the theater. He groveled and sent Master Peng away. It seemed that he knew him.
Gongyang Nong was going to trick him, and he would get ten taels of silver as soon as he made a move.
He asked directly, "Master Peng is taking Twelve Niangs back home?"
The pockmarked face felt it was not enough and shook his head.
Another dozen rams were stuffed into his sleeves.
"No, Mr. Peng's wife has been making trouble these days, and he dare not take Twelve Niangs back."
"So he's sending her back to her own home?"
"It should be that Twelfth Mother drank a few glasses of wine and coughed up blood again."
Gong Yangnong was a little worried, "How can you let someone who has been bedridden for a long time drink alcohol?!"
The pockmarked smile said, "You don't know Jiang Twelve's temper. Anyone who dares to stop her from drinking will be in trouble with her. She drinks and dances every night, and sometimes even sings all night, even if she doesn't sing One night, it will be around midnight."
"Why so late?"
"Twelfth Mother has had a cough since she was a child. She goes to bed early at night and wakes up coughing in the middle of the night."
After Gongyang Nong heard this, he felt sad.
After leaving Liluoyuan, he came to the door of the house where he was visiting Twelve Niangs. The maid who greeted him this time joked, "Ah, is it you, my lord, here again?"
He felt unworthy, "I don't dare to call myself a master before I have an official title."
"That young master? Young master, please come this way."
"Is this?" He was puzzled.
"The young lady said, please come in."
Someone seemed to be playing the piano in the main room, intermittently, sometimes hidden and sometimes bright.
Although the courtyard is not big, it is kept clean. There are only a few maids and servants walking around, and there are no piles of slaves.
Gongyang Nong said outside, "Excuse me, Twelve Mothers."
The music in the room stopped, and the woman walked out of the room. Her dark eyes seemed to be surprised, "Young Master is..."
"Miss, please come in, please?"
She suddenly realized, "It turns out to be you. During the days when I was sick, you often came to see me without leaving your name."
"My name is Gongyang Nong, and my courtesy name is Xiang'an." He wanted to tell her everything he had.
She was slightly startled, feeling that this person looked familiar.
Gongyang Nong knew that she couldn't recognize him now, so he reminded her, "More than half a year ago, I gave the girl candied fruits."
"When?" She really couldn't remember.
"At that time, the girl even laughed at my seriousness!"
Twelve Niang's face turned red with embarrassment, "It's my fault that I was rude. I was just looking for someone to make fun of me out of boredom. I really didn't mean it."
Their words were interrupted by another person, "Who is coming?"
Gongyang Nong was startled and recognized whose voice it was.
"Gongyang's family, Gongyang Xiangan." He saluted without losing etiquette. Facing this man who was more than ten years older than him, he was not timid at all. He even couldn't wait for this day to come.
"The young lady is very grateful for the young master's care. Please ask Twelve Niang to play a song for the young master to express her gratitude."
In front of Mr. Peng, she dared to openly invite another man to listen to music.
Master Peng seemed to be helpless against her. He clenched the sword in his hand, his face flushed with anger, and Twelve Niang's face turned pale. It was really funny to put these two people together.
Gongyang Nong alleviated his hatred for this man. Seeing that he was ignored by Twelve Mothers, she ordered him to be kicked out without caring about his face. Gongyang Nong felt pity for him.
This man seemed to be sincerely devoted to Twelve Niangs, but Twelve Niangs didn’t seem to want to appreciate it.
He was so angry that he walked away with a puff of his sleeves and walked out of the courtyard. He turned back and looked at each other with Gong Yangnong. The stern look made him feel very uncomfortable. Gongyang Nong hurriedly looked away to look at Twelve Niangs.
As soon as he left, Twelve Niang came to hold his hand with a smile. Gongyang Nong seemed to be in the clouds, his hand was in hers, and he even breathed softly, for fear of scaring her away.
All this seems like a dream.
Twelve Niang smiled and said, "It's almost noon. I asked the maid to make hot sweet soup. Do you want to use some?"
(End of chapter)