In the following days, Qin Mubai felt like a piece of stubborn iron. He was first inhumanly thrown into a large furnace and burned red, and then was forged like crazy by two barbaric old blacksmiths, Qin Shubao and Cheng Zhijie. Thousands of replies.
Martial arts training in the school field, instruction in marksmanship... It sounds nice, but in reality it means getting beaten!
What he received was a beating from two of the top warriors in the Tang Dynasty!
Every bone seems to be broken, and there is no place on the body that is not injured. Bruises and swollen faces are commonplace, which often makes Qin Mubai have the illusion that he has gained weight.
However, after thousands of times of tempering, the stubborn iron finally felt a little like "steel". Under the crazy training of Qin and Cheng, Qin Mubai's spearmanship, riding and shooting and other horsemanship skills improved by leaps and bounds. Now, he can even use Qin Shubao's new "Tai Chi Spear Technique" to fight Cheng Zhijie on horseback for more than ten or twenty rounds without losing, and he will not be knocked off the horse so easily.
As for riding and archery, archery was Qin Mubai's specialty. After becoming proficient in equestrian skills, his progress in this skill was even more rapid. In the end, both Qin Shubao and Cheng Zhijie had to admit - "This boy's current archery skills are not to say the best in the world, but at least he is at the top and unrivaled. The two old guys like us are no better than him."
The imperial court held a celebration banquet for the "pacification of Tuyuhun" as scheduled, and Qin Shubao was invited to attend. Qin Mubai was not qualified to go to such a high-level place to ask for a piece of cake, but he heard that the emperor used the "Qin Xian Liquor" he brewed and donated to entertain guests at the banquet, which caused a great sensation.
Qin Shubao came back from the banquet and was in a very good mood, as if he had instantly become more than ten years younger and had recovered from his illness. It turned out that the emperor not only displayed the "Qin Gun" he used at the banquet as before, but also specially praised the Qin family's Saburo in public - "Versatile, filial and benevolent; he will be a tiger in the door, and he will not disgrace the family." ”
Obviously, the emperor intended to take the initiative to resolve the knot in Qin Shubao's heart and resolve some of the unwarranted conflicts that had been caused by Wu Meiniang.
"Sanlang, the emperor's mind is beyond our imagination! Instead of holding any grudge against you, he actually praised you in public." Qin Shubao said to Qin Mubai comfortably, "He praised your piano skills and wine making. These are all Secondary. But he specifically mentioned that you are a 'general tiger son'. Does this mean that you should not engage in side activities such as music and drinking, but focus on the military and prepare for the emperor's selection of troops in the near future? "
"It's possible." Qin Mubai replied, "But the emperor's heart is unpredictable. We don't know whether the emperor is really relieved or whether he is trying to cover up the situation and frighten the tiger. In short, the child will act carefully. If the emperor is like this The implication is that it also reflects that he is indeed a little unhappy about Wu Meiniang. "
"Oh, what do you say?" Qin Shubao asked in surprise.
"If the emperor is really suggesting that I participate in the military selection, doesn't it mean that he wants me to leave Li Ke?" Qin Mubai said, "That is to say, he is worried about what Li Ke and I did this time. I am somewhat dissatisfied with this matter and don’t want me to be with him again. What do you think, father?”
"Hmm... That makes sense." Qin Shubao nodded suddenly, stroking his long beard and said, "You are still careful. Since the emperor has hinted like this, you have more reason to leave Prince Wu's Mansion and find a job with the emperor. Get ready to practice martial arts hard. If nothing happens, the emperor will take care of this matter after the Chinese New Year. There are still more than twenty days, so you have to hurry up. "
"Yes, father." Qin Mubai agreed, but felt a little nervous: According to the calculations of the great master Yuan Tiangang, my father's death date is the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, so there are only more than twenty days left! But now I see him feeling refreshed and physically getting better. What will happen then? This kind of mysterious and unpredictable calculation, I would rather believe that it is deceptive...
The Chinese New Year is only a few days away. In the peaceful and prosperous imperial capital of Chang'an City, there was a bit of relaxed joy. You can often see people from various households returning home with large quantities of New Year's goods purchased from the West Market. The sound of firecrackers is often heard in the neighborhood. What makes Qin Mubai even more interesting is that except for the Qin family, almost every household in Chang'an City has two paintings of door gods - Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong - posted on the door!
It turns out that this custom has been formed since the Zhenguan period.
After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin, who had just ascended the throne, often fell asleep and had nightmares (probably the psychological shadow left by killing his brothers and killing so many innocent nephews), thinking that the palace was haunted. Therefore, Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong, two fierce generals who had killed countless people in the founding of the country and were the most ferocious and fearless of ghosts and gods, guarded the emperor's palace with troops all night long. Only then did Li Shimin sleep peacefully.
Later, out of sympathy for his subordinates, Li Shimin couldn't bear to let his two beloved generals stay outside the palace all night, so he first left Qin Shubao's famous iron gun and inserted it outside the palace to show his power and suppress him. Later, he ordered the painter to He drew portraits of the two of them and pasted them on the palace door to ward off evil spirits.
Whether the emperor would really sleep soundly after that was unclear. However, the emperor's move quickly became popular among the people as a result of the custom of what goes up and what goes down. A few years later, Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong, two living people, actually became folk door gods!
Compared to the lively and festive atmosphere outside, Prince Wu's Mansion seemed a bit quiet. This place, which is almost isolated from the world, is now like a pool of stagnant water and it is difficult to stir up any waves. Li Ke stayed behind closed doors all day, and he didn't know whether those beauties had made him aesthetically tired, or whether he was tired of admiring the music, songs and dances.
Qin Mubai thought to himself that on the surface it seemed that Li Ke was planning to hide his power and bide his time and become a peaceful prince who had nothing to do with the world. I just don’t know what kind of thoughts he has deep in his heart
By chance, Qin Mubai and Li Ke talked about Princess Wu while chatting. It turned out that Princess Wu Yang, because she had just given birth to a daughter, was too weak from the fatigue of the journey, so she still stayed in Anzhou to recuperate and did not follow Li Ke to Chang'an. The servants who listened to the gossip in the mansion said that Wu King Li Ke and the princess came together because of a political marriage. There was neither love nor indifference between them. They could only be described as "respecting each other as guests". In other words, it is a bit "coherent in appearance but completely different in spirit".
On this day, the palace issued New Year's gifts. No matter whether they were generals, officials or servants, everyone was given a batch of mutton, cloth and other New Year's goods. It was a joyous scene.
Qin Mubai was preparing to distribute things to the military academy under his command. Yin Yang, the brigade commander who was responsible for guarding the gate of the prince's palace, hurriedly came to report that there was a person in front of the palace who wanted to see Qin Mubai by name. He claimed to be the second wife of the Wu family of the Duke Ying's palace. Personal maid.
"What will happen if Wu Meiniang comes to me now?" After thinking for a while, Qin Mubai came to the door and saw the little maid.
As soon as the little maid saw Qin Mubai, she burst into tears and shouted pitifully and anxiously: "Uncle, please go over there quickly! The second lady is in such a miserable state!"
"What's going on? Don't cry and explain the matter clearly!" Qin Mubai asked, his heart blocked.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu My uncle has not even glanced at the Wu family in these days. Brother Wu Yuanqing has been bullying the second lady and the others all day long, and the beatings and scoldings are still light. This is about to kill someone!" The little maid cried so sadly.
"What? Is there such a thing? You rebelled against Wu Yuanqing!" Seeing the little girl crying sadly, Qin Mubai guessed that she didn't dare to deceive him, and was a little angry for a while.
Yuwen Hongtai happened to come over. Hearing Qin Mubai's low shout, he immediately shouted angrily: "Boss, I'm going to call some brothers to hang up Wu Yuanqing and beat him, peel his skin and beat his tendons. ! You really turned against him!"
"Shut up!" Qin Mubai stopped him with a low voice. He stared at the little maid, making her feel numb and shrinking back. He muttered: "Aunt, uncle, what are you doing? Are you looking at me like this?”
"If you dare to lie to me, you will be in trouble." Qin Mubai snorted coldly. At this moment, although he was a little angry, he still did not lose his mind. Emotionally and logically speaking, it is impossible for Wu Yuanqing to dare to bully Wu Meiniang, sisters, mother, daughter and others.
"Maid, maid, don't you dare!" The little maid looked at a group of intimidating men in armor and swords in horror, and tremblingly said, "Uncle, please come quickly," and ran away.
"Hmph, little girl, although her acting skills are pretty good, she wants to trick me with this kind of mindless trick? I want to see what Wu Meiniang wants to do by deceiving me." Qin Mubai couldn't help but sneer.
"Boss, what should we do? Do you want me to call some brothers to deal with that idiot named Wu?" Yu Wen Hongtai became anxious and kept asking and urging.
"You should do whatever you want. I can just go to the Wu Mansion alone." Qin Mubai drove him away, didn't bother to take off his armor, and rode directly to the Duke Ying's Mansion.
The servants in Duke Ying's mansion all knew Qin Mubai, and they were all trembling with fear when they saw him in full armor. As the saying goes, it's better to provoke officials than bandits, and it's better to provoke bandits than soldiers. Qin Mubai's outfit obviously gave him an aura of power without anger.
Qin Mubai asked someone to question him, and the servant replied that the head of the house and his second wife were playing on the polo field in the backyard!
"Playing?" Qin Mubai snorted coldly in his heart: As expected, you lied to me! Fortunately, I didn't bring a large group of soldiers to charge over aggressively, otherwise I would have been very embarrassed.
At first he was still a little annoyed, but after taking a look at the polo in the backyard, Qin Mubai couldn't help laughing again.
There are no conflicts in this family. They are simply a "harmony"!
In the polo field, the net bag Qin Mubai pulled up when he came to play that day was still there. Wu Meiniang and a large group of little maids were playing the "shooting" game with great shouts. The difference is that today there is an additional goalkeeper - Wu Yuanshuang!
Wu Yuanshuang was a big man, sweating profusely and nervously hunched over, staring at the ball at Wu Meiniang's feet with a grimace, clumsily leaning left and right without knowing which side to defend. With a scolding sound, Wu Meiniang kicked the ball over. Wu Yuanshuang yelled nervously and pushed his hands to the side to block the ball, but the ball hit him firmly in the face and bounced away.
"Hahaha!" Wu Meiniang and other women clapped their hands and laughed. Wu Yuanshuang covered his face and didn't come back to his senses for a long time.
"Second brother, you didn't score the goal, so you win! My little sister lost all the money to you!" Wu Meiniang clapped her hands and giggled a little evilly, "Come again, little sister hasn't had enough fun yet!"
Beside the polo field, Mrs. Yang was holding her third daughter, who was only a few years old, leisurely basking in the sun. The eldest son Wu Yuanqing was like a slave, serving tea and pouring water with a low eyebrow.
Qin Mubai frowned: Does it look like Wu Meiniang and her daughter are being bullied? I think it’s the other way around!
When she walked over, Mrs. Yang saw Qin Mubai first. She quickly stood up and greeted him with a smile: "The good son-in-law is here? I'm afraid he hasn't been to the house for a few days? - Yuan Qing, why don't you prepare some tea quickly?"
"Yes, mother." Wu Yuanqing said nothing and quickly fetched tea for the chair like a slave.
Qin Mubai raised the corner of his mouth and smiled: "Mrs. Yang, what's going on?"
"Are you asking Mei Niang?" Mrs. Yang deliberately looked at him and said with a smile, "She is playing Cuju with her second brother! She said, you taught her this game, and it is very interesting. What? ‘Penalty kick’, the goalkeeper, I don’t understand it, just because they are having fun.”
Qin Mubai didn't ask her any questions, and glanced at Wu Yuanqing, only to see him standing aside obediently with his head bowed, not squinting and not daring to show his anger, just like an eunuch.
Wu Meiniang and others on the other side also saw Qin Mubai, and they crowded around and laughed and made noise. Wu Meiniang swaggered over with a ball in her arms and said loudly: "Hey, isn't this my Mubai husband? He really looks like a good man in such a suit of armor!"
"Then you mean, I'm not a hero anymore?" Qin Mubai turned around and looked at her with a half-smile.
"Greetings to my uncle!" A group of maids and maids bowed down neatly. Qin Mubai's heart suddenly moved: When did the Wu family have so many maids and maids? Are they newly bought
"Not bad, Husband Mubai." Wu Meiniang tossed the ball with a wicked smile and said, "I bought a dozen beautiful beauties in the past few days, and they play with me day and night. I'm so happy! Do you want to try it?”
"Mei Niang, why are you talking?" Mrs. Yang cursed in a low voice, shook her head and smiled bitterly, sighing: "Xian son-in-law, I will take my leave for now. You two can chat!"
"Um… "
After Mrs. Yang left, the Wu brothers did not dare to leave. They stood neatly aside, like lambs waiting to be slaughtered and eunuchs without blood.
"Big brother and second brother, please step aside first. I have to discuss business with my Mubai husband. You have to arrange the dinner well, and don't neglect my husband!" Wu Meiniang proudly raised her beautiful face. , said loudly.
"Brother Yu, I know... Brother Yu, brother-in-law and third sister, please accompany me." The Wu brothers humbly agreed and left obediently.
[Asking for red tickets! ! ! ]