After coming out of the old lady's courtyard, Zhu Ping'an went to the outer courtyard to check on Liu Mu and the others. When they arrived at the outer courtyard, the housekeeper of the mansion had already settled them in. They were said to be the mansion's guards, but in fact they were Zhu Ping'an's permanent attendants.
When Zhu Ping'an walked in, Liu Dadao and others were trying on new clothes with happy looks on their faces.
At this time, Liu Dadao and the others changed into the dark blue guard uniforms of the Linhuai Marquis Mansion, and their hairstyles were also neatly arranged. It is true that clothes make the man, and the six of them looked much taller and more heroic in this uniform. They were all hunters from the mountains, born into hunting and martial arts, and the guard uniforms were just right for them.
"Feel it, this material is Songjiang cotton cloth. I've seen a local rich man in town showing off before. He said this cloth is more than twice as expensive as ordinary cotton cloth." The six people were very satisfied with the outfit, especially Liu Dadao, who kept taking pictures with his mouth wide open in front of a basin of clear water, just like a naughty child who got new clothes during the Chinese New Year and couldn't wait to show off.
"Look at your useless attitude. Manager Li just said that you should have two sets of spring and autumn clothes, and a cotton-padded jacket for winter." Liu Dachui and others surrounded Liu Dadao with grins on their faces.
After Zhu Ping'an walked into the yard, except Liu Mu who noticed it first, the other five people did not notice it.
"Be serious, the young master is here." Liu Mu stood up and reminded Liu Dadao and the others.
"Ah... Hello, sir." Liu Dadao and the others then noticed Zhu Ping'an smiling slightly at the side, and immediately touched the back of their heads embarrassedly.
Seeing that Liu Mu and the others were settled, Zhu Pingan felt relieved. He stayed in the front yard for a while and then went back to the backyard.
The weather in May is like a child’s face, changing in an instant.
It was still sunny when Zhu Ping'an just returned to the backyard. After taking a shower and changing clothes, it was already cloudy outside. The dark clouds rolled in. The thick clouds were like thick smoke from a fire, and the clouds almost hung down to the treetops.
When Zhu Ping'an had laid out his writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, raindrops as big as beans began to fall outside.
Tick-tock
Raindrops as big as beans hit the windowsill.
"It's raining. It's raining."
Outside, two little girls were shouting and chirping like sparrows, nervously putting away the washed clothes.
This scene reminded Zhu Ping'an of Tang Monk in A Chinese Odyssey. He couldn't help but shake his head and smile. He stood up and closed the window to prevent rain from wetting the rice paper.
Soon, it started to rain heavily outside the window.
I haven't seen such heavy rain for a long time. I remember that the last time I saw such a downpour was on the way to Nanjing, oh, that is, the provincial examination in Yingtian Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty. That downpour also allowed me to see the dragon spitting water landscape on the Yingtian city wall.
Good rain knows its season, and it happens in spring.
Now is the time when wheat is filling with grain. With this heavy rain, the harvest of farmers in the suburbs of Beijing should be much better than in previous years.
Zhu Ping'an collected his thoughts, lit the oil lamp, took a brush from the pen holder, dipped it in ink, and began to write on the rice paper.
It was pouring rain in the capital city. In Hejian Prefecture, which also belonged to Northern Zhili, the rain was even heavier than in the capital. The rain was pouring down like a river in the sky bursting its banks. It didn't take long for the road surface to be covered with half a finger deep of rainwater.
In Cangzhou of Hejian Prefecture, the rainstorm was the most severe.
Cangzhou belongs to Hejian Prefecture, bordering the Bohai Sea to the east and Beijing and Tianjin to the north. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs through the whole area. A half-day's journey north of Cangzhou is Tianjin Prefecture, and another three hours' journey north of Tianjin Prefecture is the capital.
At this time, the rain water on the official road from Cangzhou to Beijing and Tianjin had accumulated to more than half a finger deep, and in some sections it was even half a foot deep.
This kind of rainstorm occurs once every ten years on this section of official road.
It was raining heavily on the official road. The rain was so deep that the road could no longer be seen. The road surface was like a straight river. The rain was slanting, blurring the vision. It was almost impossible to see the road ahead.
Pedestrians who were originally on the road had already gone to the surrounding villages, towns and markets to take shelter from the rain. They looked at the pouring rain with sorrow and had no desire to continue their journey.
“Gee, gee, gee…”
A few hoarse sounds of imperial horses were heard, followed by the sound of horse hooves stepping on water. Four horses galloped past on the official road, splashing a series of water.
Through the rain, you can vaguely see four fully armed soldiers in armor and sharp weapons on horseback holding the reins, crawling on the horse's back to control the horse. Crawling on the horse's back is to reduce the resistance of wind and rain, save horsepower and increase the speed of the horse.
Not long after the four fully armed soldiers galloped past, they heard the sound of even louder carriages and horses moving from behind the official road.
Six fully armed soldiers and more than ten guards in uniform were dispersed in an orderly manner, guarding the seven or eight carriages with triangular red flags with the word "Li" in the middle of the official road. In particular, the carriage in the middle, which was pulled by three horses of the same color, was specially guarded by four fully armed cavalrymen.
The soldiers on horseback and the guards were all wearing straw raincoats, and so were the coachmen driving the carriages.
The carriages were covered with several layers of felt cloth coated with tung oil, which effectively prevented rain from soaking the interior of the carriage.
"Miss, it's raining so hard outside that I can't even see the road..."
The window of the middle carriage was slightly opened. The chubby-faced maid in the carriage looked at the heavy rain outside the window and couldn't help but puff up her chubby face in worry. We were about to reach the capital, why did it suddenly rain so heavily? We must not affect our journey, because the son-in-law's birthday was coming.
Her face, which already had baby fat, now looked even rounder.
The carriage was comfortably decorated, like the boudoir of a noble lady, with a coffee table, dressing table, soft couch and so on. On the couch sat a beautiful girl with fair skin, holding a volume of "The Book of Songs" in her hand, leaning against the soft pillow in a charming and lazy manner, reading with relish by the fire in the carriage.
"It will rain, and my mother will marry. If God wants to rain, let him do it."
The stunning girl glanced out the window upon hearing this, her ink-black eyes showing no trace of emotion.
She was unmoved by wind and rain, forming a sharp contrast with the chubby-faced little maid.
"But..." The chubby-faced maid looked out the window worriedly, "Miss, what if this heavy rain affects our journey?"
"Won't."
The stunning girl's ink-black eyes flashed with a gleam of light, and she slightly opened her red lips and said two words without a doubt.
"Ah? Really?" The chubby-faced maid was overjoyed, looking at her mistress with her big round eyes.
"Are you questioning me?"
The stunning girl turned a page of the Book of Songs, slightly raised her cherry lips, and without taking her eyes off the page, she just glanced at her out of the corner of her eye.
The chubby-faced little maid immediately shook her head like a rattle.
"Excuse me, young lady, I have something to report."
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves was heard outside the window, and then a captain in full armor rode his horse to the window of the carriage and bowed respectfully to report.