That evening, it was almost closing time.
A woman stood outside the door and asked if she could have a pot of tea with fragrant soup and half a tael of glutinous rice.
Ji Liyou was playing chess with the storyteller, losing every time. It was so boring. He didn't want to humiliate himself, but he refused to let him get up.
"Girl, you're late. Come back tomorrow." Ji Liyou stuck his head out to look at the people outside.
Immediately, his eyes straightened.
This woman's face was like a peach blossom in March, and her eyes were crescent-shaped. When she smiled at him outside the door, he lost his soul.
"It's not too late, please take a seat." The storyteller surrounded him again, staring at the chessboard.
"Get off, why don't you get off?" He raised his head and saw that Ji Liyou's eyes seemed to have grown on the girl.
He shook his head and returned the black and white pieces of the chessboard to the urn, "Go and entertain the guests."
With his permission, he quickly ran to the guest and asked, "Did the girl just say fragrant soup and tea?"
"Exactly."
"This fragrant soup tea is made from roasted flower slices, and then the tea tips are brewed. I wonder what kind of fragrant soup the girl wants?"
"Two cents of crabapple, one cent of Yingchun, half a cent of white lotus, and three cents of pear blossom. After flushing, remember to cook it with milfoil."
Ji Liyou has a photographic memory, but he doesn't have the ability to remember things with his ears. His ears are not as good as his eyes, "Um... girl, can you speak slower..."
The storyteller deliberately ruined the situation by saying, "Two coins of crabapples, one coin of spring blossoms, half a coin of white lotus, and three coins of pear blossoms are boiled together with the glutinous rice."
Ji Liyou frowned and winked at him to go further away.
When the girl saw him, she smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you are polite." She stood up and saluted.
Ji Liyou turned to him and asked, "Do you know this girl?"
The storyteller hit him on the head with his fan, causing him to turn away.
The fragrant soup and tea were served for a while, but when the tea became cold, she did not take a sip.
The storyteller called Ji Liyou over and said, "Burn this incense beside her table, don't ask anything, just go."
Ji Liyou was surprised, "With such a divine way, it's impossible... that girl is a ghost, right?"
The storyteller raised his fan and tried to hit him again, but he covered his head and said, "I'm just kidding, don't hit him."
He ran to find an incense burner and lit the incense string beside her.
Milky white smoke slowly rose, and the girl lay down beside the fragrant soup and tea and slowly closed her eyes.
Ji Liyou sat aside boredly, "Is she asleep?"
He stepped forward to push her, and then he realized that there was no warmth on the girl's body. When he touched her wrist, there was no pulse. He was surprised, "What's going on?"
The storyteller just said that it was getting late and he was sleepy. He asked Master Ying to remember to see off the guests, and then he went up.
Ji Liyou was about to go upstairs to find the storyteller and ask him to save this woman. Master Ying took his arm and said, "Hey, stop making trouble."
He said, "I'm not making a fuss. That girl has no pulse. A good person walked in, and now she doesn't even make a sound of breathing. How can I just sit back and ignore her?"
Master Ying was holding a big spoon in his hand, "She fell into a dream of life and death, voluntarily dying in a dream. When dawn comes, only her clothes will be left here, and her body will be reduced to ashes."
"how so?"
"Everything is predestined. Since it is the path chosen by the girl herself, how can others interfere?"
A good girl will be reduced to ashes at dawn? Ji Liyou thought of the way she smiled at him just now and felt regretful, "Master Ying, there must be a way to save her, right?"
"Her three souls have emerged from the top of her head and are hovering in the sky. Once the sun comes out, they cannot return to her body."
"Then... what can be done?"
Master Ying didn't say anything, "Sir asked you to go to bed early. You'd better not ask any more questions. It's better for the children to go to bed early. Go upstairs."
Ji Liyou said, "It's time to go to bed early."
An idea struck him, and he lay down next to the girl and closed his eyes. Strangely enough, the fragrance filled the air around him. He didn't feel sleepy at first, and fell asleep soon after closing his eyes.
It was winter when Qian Nai and her family moved back to Diaoti from Liangzhu. It was so cold along the way that her hands suffered from frostbite. She couldn't warm them up at night, otherwise it would make her want to hit her hands with stones. The maid's delicate hands were wiped with rose juice.
When we returned to Diaotiyinggan, it happened to be a hot summer day.
Qian Nai's ancestors had land in various states and counties, especially in Bolu and Beiqiu. When it came to his father's generation, he was addicted to gambling and ruined the family fortune at a young age. In his early years, the family was still wealthy, which was considered in Liangzhu. She went to a wealthy family and got married to Qian Nai. Qian Nai's grandfather had studied and served as an official. When he was still alive, he got married to a colleague in the court and gave Qian Nai to a junior member of the same clan. He is a very decent man.
The very upright man didn't even visit Qian Nai once until she and her family moved away. He said that there was a big problem between men and women, which was the most important thing.
He sent someone to tell him what he said, Qian Nai's little girl said. She saw her uncle entering the flower house, with a pink girl on his left and right in his arms.
The very upright fiancée quickly broke off the engagement, saying that he had a sudden illness that would not ruin the girl's life.
Qian Nai has never had her hair cut in her sixteen years. People in Liangzhu say that the body, hair and skin are inherited from parents and should not be harmed. She grew up in Liangzhu. Although her grandmother was a carver, she eventually read It is the book of sages from Liangzhu.
My grandmother was a very bold woman. She couldn't stand her grandfather's pedantry. She divorced her grandfather ten years ago and returned to Diaotie on her own. She was like a sandbird that could not be restrained. Only the wilderness of Diaotii could make her feel at ease. To her, no matter how beautiful and prosperous Liangzhu is, it is just a gorgeous cage.
Not long after Qian Nai came to carve the title, she always tied her hair on her head with a bunao like she did in Liangzhu. The bunao was different in the morning and evening. She also had to change her clothes and jewelry at noon. , the mother did not sell it. The mother sold out her own, but did not touch hers.
My father gambled away all his family property, used his last silver to redeem the life of a fangirl from Chutianfang, and ran away with the fangirl in the middle of the night.
My mother didn't cry, she didn't shed a single tear. She sold the old house and all the valuable things in the house. She distributed the deeds of sale to the servants and maids at home, gave each of them some silver, and let them go home.
She wrote to her mother again, wanting to take Qian Nai back.
At the same time, she also wrote a letter to Qian Nai's grandmother. Of course, this was just a helpless move. If Qian Nai's grandmother was unwilling to take them in, they would have to consider other places.
Qian Nai has beautiful hair, soft and smooth, hanging around her waist. She has an oval face and crescent-like eyes when she smiles. Everyone likes her.
Qiannai's grandmother also said the same thing, but after she said it, she cut off a section of Qiannai's hair. Qiannai cried in anger, but she didn't dare to get angry at her grandmother. This was a problem. She and her mother could only live with her grandmother At home, if grandma is unhappy, she can drive them away at any time.
Grandma knew that she was angry, so she explained, "No matter how long your hair is, it won't be as long as yours. It's hot here and your hair is thick. You may faint from the heat."
(End of chapter)