The setting sun shone through the clear pond. A carp spit out a bubble, then turned and dived under a lotus leaf. The ripples pushed the reflection of the pavilion.
Amid the chirping of cicadas, the gentle sound of a zither in the pavilion and the soft singing of a woman were heard. Min Yuerou looked at the ripples on the pool water. In the clear and gentle tone, she vaguely saw the shadow of a scholar floating in the water.
Three years have passed since she left her homeland. The battle against the Chen Dynasty sometimes wakes her up like a nightmare. She can hear hysterical shouts and people crying and screaming, and it seems as if she can still smell the bloody smell that filled the air at that time.
Her father was the Shangshu Pushe of the Chen Dynasty, a high official with a stubborn temperament and a notoriously stiff neck. After the city was broken, her father refused to surrender and was thrown into prison, and she and her mother were also detained. Later, for some reason, the second prince of the Sui Dynasty went to the prison in person to persuade her father to surrender, and it took a lot of words to convince her father. After joining the Sui Dynasty, the whole family moved to Chang'an to live.
Everything in the past seemed to have passed a long time ago. She was almost twenty years old and would soon be an old maid. But it was also good this way. Taking care of her parents, she sometimes thought about the scene during the Southern Chen Dynasty and the otherworldly scholar in a white robe, leading an old donkey with a toad on his shoulder. This was a memory that ordinary people rarely had.
Outside the pavilion, footsteps were heard, and the fingertips plucking the strings of the zither stopped. Min Yuerou raised her eyes and saw the maid Tu Ling coming over with iced sour plum soup. She carefully took the colorful porcelain bowl in her hands.
"Miss, the lady asked me to bring you this soup. It's delicious."
"Leave it there."
Min Yuerou smiled with her almond-shaped eyes, indicating that she didn't need to hold it in place. She stroked the silk strings that were still trembling slightly, then stood up, took out her handkerchief and wiped the soup off the clumsy little maid.
"You are so impatient. When will you change?"
Ever since he came to Chang'an with his father, his former habit of dancing and playing with spears has disappeared. Perhaps it was because he had not adapted to the climate in Chang'an for the first time and fell seriously ill, or maybe it was because he had grown older, but he gradually began to like quietness. When he had nothing to do, he learned the art of playing the zither and sat in the pavilion to entertain himself.
After wiping the little maid's hands and patting her on the back, Min Yuerou smiled and said, "Okay, you're not needed here. I'll play for a while in the pavilion and then go over to eat."
Over there, Tu Ling came over with a smile. She was young, but very clever and lively. She knew all the random news in the mansion.
"Miss, I'm afraid dinner will be a little late today."
Min Yuerou sat back on the stool, plucked the strings, and a "dang" sound echoed. She looked at her with a smile.
"What's wrong?"
"When Tu Ling came, the master seemed to be angry. He scolded the four scholars who had just come to visit him. They dared not say a word."
"Four scholars?"
Yue Rou, who wanted to play the zither again, frowned slightly, and a puzzled look appeared on her pretty face: "Isn't he an official under my father's command?"
"No." Tu Ling shook her head, a small hairpin with a bell hanging from it dangling from her bun, and whispered, "Tu Ling also saw it. The four scholars were tall and short, and looked tired. Their accents were not from the Central Plains, but more like the southern dialect that the young lady used to speak."
"From the accent?"
Min Yuerou raised her eyebrows and glanced at the little maid, "You are eavesdropping again. Aren't you afraid that the steward will arrest you?"
"Ah..." Tu Ling covered her mouth, her eyes curved into crescents, and she quickly shook her head: "Miss, I won't dare to do it next time."
"That's what you said last time."
The master and servant had a very good relationship. Min Yuerou was not used to it when she first came to Chang'an, and she was even reluctant to leave her room. If it weren't for this little maid who accompanied her every day and whose cleverness often caused her to do ridiculous things to make her happy, she might have died in depression as described in some gossips.
"Yes, yes, Miss, I heard that a big fish was born in Anbao County in the north, and the remains will be sent to Chang'an. It seems that it will arrive tomorrow. Miss, take Tu Ling to take a look."
"What's so good about a big fish?"
"But I heard from people outside that it was a fish monster that was causing trouble in the water. It was killed by a master and its bones were left as a witness for the people of Niuji. I heard from the aunt who was buying vegetables in the kitchen that the bones were very big, even bigger than an ordinary house."
The little maid stared, stood on tiptoe, stretched out her arms exaggeratedly, and used her body language to describe the picture in her mind.
"But so what? I don't want to see it."
Min Yuerou plucked the strings again, her eyes focused. Three years ago, she had seen even bigger monsters, two of them, and even the legendary dragon had seen a little bit of them. How could a fish monster's bones be bigger than those two monsters? At most, it was just the fish that we usually eat that had grown a little bigger.
But the little maid over there was still chattering on and on, gesticulating with her hands and feet, pouring out a bunch of information she had found out.
"I also heard from outsiders that... Anyway, they will enter the city tomorrow, and it must be very big. I also heard that the expert looks like a scholar, and he has an old donkey with him."
The fingertips that plucked the strings were suspended in the air, and Min Yuerou's expression was stunned for a moment. Tu Ling, who was standing next to her, looked at the young lady's appearance and subconsciously asked carefully.
"Miss, did Tu Ling say something wrong?"
"No."
Min Yuerou smiled, her hovering fingertips dropped down and plucked the strings, but the sound of the piano was much lighter than usual, and a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.
The light and melodious string music spread across the backyard of the mansion. A bird flew across the sunset, chirping, and landed on the eaves of the study in the front yard. Suddenly, it heard an angry shout, and was so frightened that it flapped its wings and flew away.
In the open window, an old man in black clothes, with gray hair and beard, slammed the table hard and stared at the four scholars lined up below.
"You four have brought shame upon me, the scholars of Southern Chen!"
One of the four people spoke tremblingly: "Minister, Nan Chen is gone."
"Shut up!"
There was another loud bang on the table. The old man stood up and shouted angrily, sweeping his majestic eyes over the four beauties from the south who were so scared that their necks were shrunken.
"You four should have reported to the Ministry of Personnel a month ago. What time is it now? The vacancies are gone. If you want to be an official, go to the northwest. There are plenty of vacancies there!"
When Wang Feng, Ma Liu, Zhang Ti and Zhao Tang heard this, they panicked and all crowded over to bow and salute.
"Minister Min, how can we get to the northwest? The wind is strong and there are Turks. The land is poor and the people are few and fierce. The four of us cannot stand it."
"Yes, yes. There are more bandits on the way. Maybe he will be dead before he even takes office."
"Lord Min, we are all from Southern Chen after all, can't we squeeze in and take a ride..."
"roll!"
Min Changwen waved his sleeves and almost hit Zhao Tang who said this. He pointed to the door with anger and said, "It is only because we were once from the same Southern Chen Dynasty that I gave you four vacancies. You can choose from several counties in the northwest! Now get out of here. I am angry when I see you four!"
With a bang, the wooden door opened.
The four scholars ran out in a panic, quickly ran through the crescent-shaped door, and almost bumped into the housekeeper of the mansion, who looked back and walked into the study.
"Master, what's going on with these four people?"
"An opportunist."
Min Changwen really hated these four people. It was understandable that they held the city until it was broken and then surrendered, but when the Sui army landed at the shore, these four people opened the door as if they were welcoming their parents...
How could Min Changwen, who had worked so hard for the Chen Dynasty, not be angry
After taking a sip of tea, the old man sat back behind the desk, calmed down, and asked the steward why he came here. The steward said that there was a message from the palace, asking Min Changwen to go to the palace early the next morning to see the corpse of the fish monster with the civil and military officials of the court.
The corpse of a fish monster
During this period, the old man had heard some rumors about this, but he did not take it seriously. He was busy counting the documents of the Ministry of Personnel and participating in the formulation of officials' salaries.
"Another demon. Could it be that some unorthodox person took this opportunity to sneak into the court?"