A Lady’s Tranquility

Chapter 221: Apricot flowers are early

Views:

The incident of Xie Wei's injury really caused a shock in Xinzhou City.

Fortunately, there were not many people who witnessed the incident on the city gate. The few who saw the whole story were secretly sealed, and they dared not spread the word. Because of the rumors related to the "Second Ning Girl", that is, a very small group of people know about it.

Most of them thought they were assassins.

And it didn't take two days before it spread that there were noses and eyes. In addition to the murder in broad daylight, the words of flying over the eaves and walking the walls, picking leaves and hurting people have all been said, and some people swear that this must be the defeat of the Tartar side, and it is difficult to express a bad anger, so a special person was sent to assassinate Master Xie , to vent the ruthlessness of his heart.

"How about a Tartar? Although he knelt down and begged us to negotiate peace, he was still unwilling. General Yan is a strong martial artist and is often in the army. Is the young master ready to start? He was born in the imperial examination, but he is a weak scholar, how can he resist an assassin? "

In the tea shed downstairs from the city gate, a few chatting tea patrons were talking like spittle.

Weak scholar

Jiang Xuening, who was sitting at the corner of the tea shed, only laughed silently.

When Tongzhou was besieging the Tianjiao, the scene where Xie Ju'an shot an arrow through Xiao Dingfei's shoulder from a distance is still vivid in his mind. If you want to say what kind of "weak scholar" he is, I am afraid that Xiao Dingfei, who has suffered a lot, will be the first to jump up and break this man's head.

But in the end, the so-called "assassination" of Xie Wei was done by herself, and she wouldn't go out to explain anything. She just picked up the teapot next to her, filled herself with half a cup of tea, and then looked diagonally opposite.

She is in the street market these days.

Originally, it was just to hang out, but Xinzhou City is such a big place, so I always walked to the downstairs of the city gate. The blacksmith shop that Xie Wei had dragged her to look down from above the city gate tower was right next to it.

It's about the beginning of spring, and things in the fields will get busy soon, so there seems to be a lot of business of making farm tools, and the shop is quite busy.

The master with a gray beard frowned and said something to the younger apprentice below.

Pointing to the stove for a moment, and to the hearth for a moment.

Blacksmith Zhou is one of the few old blacksmiths in Xinzhou City. After all, the town is not big, and people come to him for anything they need, but people from far and near know him.

Just what the specific name is, everyone can't name it.

The only thing I can remember is that this person is old and his surname is Zhou, so to save trouble, he is called "Blacksmith Zhou", or "Master Zhou".

The blacksmith shop is forging iron, and it is also a business, but it relies on the word "faithfulness".

Anyone who has a plowshare that he has made, and who can't turn the soil after taking it back, or who cut corners and weighs the inadequacy, can bring it to him. Over the years, there have been almost no mistakes, and it can be regarded as the best in the industry of Xinzhou City.

So Blacksmith Zhou is very popular nearby.

Like the guy at the tea shop next door, he gave them some tea from time to time.

After all, it was hot in the blacksmith's shop and sweating in the winter, so I couldn't bear it if I didn't drink too much.

It's just that when the guy today made another trip to brew a few pots of tea for them, the blacksmith Zhou couldn't help but fall on the girl sitting in the corner of the tea shop.

The snow-white immortal dress has a dark blue moire on the collar and cuffs, and is covered with a thin layer of primrose-colored crepe. The gilded bodhisattva looks much better.

If he remembered correctly, this girl has been sitting there for two days, right

If there was something wrong, he didn't even go into the blacksmith shop while sitting there; if there was nothing wrong, when he came out these afternoons, he could always see her looking at the red-hot fire.

It's just that at night, she's gone.

The next afternoon came as usual, sometimes earlier, sometimes later.

Not only Blacksmith Zhou, but also many young and strong guys and apprentices in the shop have also seen it, but the girl is too good-looking, and they only dare to sneak a glance occasionally and discuss in private, but no one dares to join up. Conversation.

Today, the sun is gradually slanting.

A few apricot trees planted next to the blacksmith shop have buds, and even a few sporadic flowers are blooming on the branches. The pink and white petals are stained with a layer of twilight from the sky, which is really beautiful.

There are fewer people on the street.

The joking tea customers in the tea shop soon had almost gone.

The girl should be leaving too.

The blacksmith Zhou thought for a while, and after drinking the tea, he rolled up his sleeves and fastened them to his arms. He lifted out the blade of the sword that was scorching red in the charcoal, and hit it hard with the hammer.

He didn't stop to wipe the sweat and rest for a while until everything was beaten and evenly balanced.

As a result, I didn't think about it. When I looked up, I saw that the girl had come to the edge of the early blooming apricot tree.

The blacksmith Zhou couldn't help but be surprised, he clearly didn't recognize her, but at this moment he subconsciously said: "The spring is late in the north, but the blacksmith shop is always hot outside, and the flowers and trees often bloom earlier than other places. years have passed."

Jiang Xuening was slightly startled: "Really?"

Blacksmith Zhou Dao: "I see that the girl seems to have been sitting outside for a few days, only watching the iron work in the shop, but not coming in, but what difficulties did you encounter?"

Difficulty

Nor does it count.

She just calmed down and tried to sort out her thoughts. Every time she walked here, it would be an afternoon to sit down without realizing it.

Jiang Xuening shook his head gently: "I'm sorry, it's not a problem. I just went out for a walk and saw that the blacksmith shop is always in full swing, and the beating is jingle, and it seems that you have been hammering this sword for several days. I didn't see it, I didn't pay attention to it for too long."

The blacksmith Zhou Chao glanced at the sword embryo and laughed.

He touched the beard on his chin, and when he talked about his old skills, he got a bit of a shrewd air and said: "Bai Smelting Steel, originally the mine came out of the mountain to burn it once, that is, pig iron. It was like this. It is pure, tough and tough, and it can be pure, tough and tough, and it can cut gold and jade. Besides, it is a matter of early years to smelt steel. To be able to make a tool, it must be '10,000 forging'. It can be completed in ten days and a half, which is very little."

Hundreds of steelmaking, ten thousand forging swords.

Jiang Xuening turned his gaze to the high furnace behind the blacksmith, where he smelted iron slurry, and his eyes flowed, only to say: "It's really not easy."

Blacksmith Zhou Xiao: "How can this be easy?"

As he said that, he bent down and pulled the bellows with his head down, and the fire in the stove suddenly increased a lot.

Without raising his head, he said, "As long as there are three disasters and five disasters in human life, how can the sword be avoided?"

Jiang Xuening listened, raised her eyelid gently, and only looked at the branch with pink petals blooming.

Blacksmith Zhou finished his work, got up and saw it, and couldn't help but say, "If you like it, girl, just pick one."

Jiang Xuening stood still.

The blacksmith Zhou Mei's eyes were filled with a bit of the peace of the elderly, and he only said: "My little granddaughter sees this apricot blooming early every year, so she has to fold two branches and go back to play, it doesn't matter. "

Jiang Xuening did love the apricot blossoms that bloomed very early. Hearing the blacksmith Zhou say this, he smiled and stood on tiptoes slightly, picking only the small branch on the side that was only a little longer than the palm of his hand, and then lowered his head. Bent over: "Thank you, master."

A dozen or so apricot flowers form three clusters on the branches.

A lot of them have already opened, and some are still shyly holding flower buds, and they are held by her slender white fingers, which is really beautiful.

The blacksmith Zhou Mei grinned and waved his hands again and again: "If you can't do it, you can't do it, it's just a flower."

As soon as he saw that the sun was about to set outside, he pointed to the sky: "It's too late today, isn't the girl going home? No matter how big a thing can be, how big can it be? Go home and get some sleep. God will be fine."

Jiang Xuening narrowed his eyes and smiled, but did not say much.

It was really late, so she thought it was time to go back, so she said goodbye to Blacksmith Zhou.

The setting sun fell, and the street was empty.

Jiang Xuening has gone far.

Blacksmith Zhou watched for a while under the tile shed, and saw that the girl walked away without knowing when, with the apricot flowers hanging loosely between her fingers, she seemed to be a little peaceful and transparent.

When Jiang Xuening returned to the general's mansion, he happened to encounter several horses running from the side door, splashing some smoke, but the first one seemed to see her and restrained his horse at the mansion's entrance.

Yan Lin sat high on the horse.

He was dressed in black, but he was very sparse and neat, but when he stared at Jiang Xuening, his brows were slightly frowning.

These days, she was wandering outside all day, and she seldom met with the people who lived in the mansion, not to mention that Yan Lin went out early in the morning and returned home at night in the camp, and naturally she didn't even have a chance to meet each other.

I'm afraid Yan Lin is also thinking about Xie Wei's injury.

Jiang Xuening seemed to see his silence, and smiled first: "Are you going to the camp again?"

Yan Lin is not someone else.

Although he hadn't witnessed what happened on the city gate that day, he knew about it. Seeing that at this moment, she looks like a normal person, and if she has something to say, it's not easy to open her mouth.

He hesitated for a while.

He felt that other words were useless, and only said to her: "Ningning, I'm on your side."

Jiang Xuening was slightly stunned, and only laughed after a while, but did not take his words as a joke, but replied seriously: "Okay."

Yan Lin then rode away again.

The rest quickly followed.

The horses soon disappeared at the end of the street.

Jiang Xuening just entered the mansion, but only halfway through, saw a deserted corridor, stopped for a long time, and went along this corridor in the end.

There are not many people in the courtyard in the secluded place.

She entered the courtyard and stopped under the eaves. Jianshu, who had just come out of the house with an empty medicine bowl, saw her and was stunned.

By this time the door had not yet closed.

You can see from the door to the outside.

Perhaps it was from Jian Shu's stagnant figure and demeanor that he could see something. The people in the room paused and said to the window, "Aren't you coming in?"

Jiang Xuening heard his voice and knew that he was speaking to himself, but said, "No, I just came to ask Zhou Yinzhi about it today and how it went."

Xie Wei said across the window, "No news yet."

Jiang Xuening lightly closed his eyes, suppressed the bit of annoyance that appeared in his heart, and said, "I'm always worried about this person, after thinking about it, it would be a disaster to keep him walking around in Xinzhou. Arrest people and lock them up so that they won't do anything wrong. When it's clear in the future, if he's innocent, then let them go."

Xie Wei coughed softly: "Aren't you afraid that he will be angry?"

Jiang Xuening said: "What kind of grievance can the grass on the wall have? He knows the current affairs very well, so he can't."

Xie Wei then said: "Then hand over the knife and piano to do it."

Jiang Xuening nodded, and for a moment, thinking about nothing else, turned around and wanted to go.

Xie Wei suddenly asked, "Are you coming tomorrow?"

Jiang Xuening stopped again, glanced down at the twig of apricot blossoms between his fingers, and said, "Tomorrow, I will send Fangyin and Ren Weizhi to leave Xinzhou. If you are busy, let's do it another day."

Xie Wei said: "Then another day."

Jiang Xuening heard his voice as normal, but there was a bit of herbal bitterness in the yard, which made people's nose and tongue astringent.

So my mind wandered, and I remembered that day again.

She slowly turned the apricot flower around and said, "Maybe you are right, I am no different from the ordinary people in the world. It's just that there are hundreds of people in the world. Some people like a person, and they must do everything possible to meet them. People are together. But there are also people who like a person, or just want the other person's peace and happiness, and may not necessarily ask for a result. There is no difference between these two people. Zhang Zhe is like a charcoal in the snow and a dark room light for me. , Jue Ferry Boat. Even if it will become 'I once belonged to', I don't want to listen to his words. Xie Ju'an, don't mention him in the future, okay?"

Jian Shu stood quietly at the door, daring not to move.

The house was quiet.

Jiang Xuening couldn't see what the person inside would look like. After a long silence, he heard a low and calm voice inside: "Okay."

She couldn't tell how she was feeling at this moment.

The wind blowing through the hall made the pink petals tremble slightly.

Jiang Xuening raised his hand lightly, and before stepping away, silently placed this small branch of apricot blossoms on the window sill.

Jianshu couldn't help stunned.

After Jiang Xuening left, he first put the lacquer plate holding the medicine bowl aside, took the apricot flower on the window edge, returned to the house, and presented it to Xie Wei.

He leaned against the soft couch under the window.

Zhou Qihuang's medical skills are undoubtedly superb. After days of cultivation, the wounds have gradually healed. Except for his pale face and some reductions, he does not look much different from the past.

Jian Shu whispered, "Miss Fang Cai Ning was resting on the edge of the window."

Xie Wei reached out and took it.

There are still fresh creases on the broken stems of the twigs of apricot blossoms, and the first blooming pink and white petals are extraordinarily delicate and tender, even unbelievable, in this northern land where winter is near and early spring has not yet arrived.

Where did the apricot flowers bloom so early

At that moment, he stared at the pink flowers on this branch, only to feel that his heart seemed to melt away, there was a kind of trance like a dream after getting what he wanted, but the smile on his lips added a bit of tranquility. Peaceful and warm.

With his eyes wandering, Xie Ju'an looked out the door.

The sun was setting in the west, and the surroundings were quiet.

Jian Shu didn't dare to disturb him. After a long while, he looked back and asked softly, "What the first lady said, let Daoqin do it?"

Xie Wei nodded.

Jian Shu bowed and was about to retreat, but when he retreated halfway, he thought of something and stopped, seeming hesitant.

Xie Wei looked at him.

Jianshu hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Miss Ning's meaning is to catch someone alive and lock him up to prevent him from causing trouble. But what if..."

Xie Wei raised his brows slightly, his eyes on the small branch of apricot blossoms never lifted, and he didn't care about Zhou Yinzhi, he just said lightly, "Then catch him to death."