Zhui Xu

Chapter 389: Confused and bewildered

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The summer is still hot, and the time moves forward step by step without any new ideas. It is the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and the city of Bianliang is chaotic and has its own trajectory of operation as before. The land of the capital, all kinds of things and information in the world are gathered together like a crowd, literati from the north and south provinces, top-notch figures, heroes of the rivers and lakes of the three mountains and five mountains, heroes of the green forest, officials who come and go from various places, and heavenly people who live in various places. The noble family, the merchants and pawns who cross the streets and alleys, each have their own life trajectories, different purposes converge, and desires, goodwill and evil thoughts converge.

Among them, Ning Yi was not affected by too many extracurricular branches. The purchased courtyard has not been arranged yet, and everyone still lives in Wenhui Building. He found a blacksmith, made a few nibs that were barely usable, and also got some feathers, which were degreased and roasted to make a quill pen. Since the quality of the paper at this time was not very good, the iron nib was not easy to use. , I can only use a nib made of feathers wrapped in layers of paper to write with sticky ink. The speed is slightly improved, but it is not very smooth, and the handwriting is crooked.

The whole plan about Zhuji is being done step by step, going out to restaurants and teahouses during the day and visiting a brothel at night. Qin Shaoyu is the guide, and many times Wenren Buer, Yao Zunian, Ji Kun, and Cheng Zhouhai will also come over. Ning Yi will ask everyone why the store is popular, and then make a record and summarize.

Yao Zunian and others did not necessarily come to visit the brothel or the tea shop. They seemed to be chatting casually, but they were actually getting to know Ning Yi from the sidelines. For Ning Yi's detailed investigation just to open a shop for his own woman, they might have something to disagree with, but they didn't raise a clear question. This is not because they keep the distance, but because Ning Yi is already in the working state of the previous life. Although he is still in his early twenties, he has such a huge plan in his mind. At the time, the temperament revealed was different from the previous one.

That is the aura of a superior and a thoughtful planner, without the trepidation and lack of self-confidence of a 20-year-old young man, no matter how much he learns. I am also cautious because I have not practiced it. Many things in Ning Yi's hands. It has been practiced countless times. Even if the ancient living habits are different, in fact, things in human nature have not changed much.

He has taken a serious attitude, and even in peace, he has an intimidating momentum and feeling. That kind of aura of a superior may have been in the eyes that scared Xiaochan when he first came to the Wu Dynasty, but it has since been restrained. At this point he was serious. Of course, Xiaochan and Yunzhu were not intimidated, but in the eyes of Yao Zunian and the others, seeing this serious and methodical attitude, they naturally wouldn't open their mouths indiscriminately. This is also because they already knew what Ning Yi had done before.

A young man who can do those things in a situation like Hangzhou, and later made everyone in Liangshan suffer such a big loss, when he is really serious. What was done, or what could be done in the end, is unimaginable.

No matter whether it was in Hangzhou or what happened in Liangshan later, almost none of them were able to make good preparations. But this time was different, immersed in such a serious attitude, time passed quite quickly, in a few days. There's a lot of stuff written around. Occasionally stop and think. In the early morning, I opened the window and saw the mist in the courtyard. When the cicadas chirped, I sat in the yard watching the peeling red paint under the eaves. For a few days, although he often went out, the really noisy things outside had nothing to do with him for the time being.

Regarding Zhou Pei's selection of his son-in-law, he did not participate. On the other hand, I heard that the poetry meeting held in the wood-picking garden that day was quite lively, and a few talented people made a big splash. It was really a major literary event in the capital. , only occasionally heard in the conversation of others.

He went to Fanlou once, mainly to meet with Li Shishi earlier. When he went there, Li Shishi was said to be entertaining guests in the small courtyard, and he thought he was quite a literati. time, make an appointment with him, Yu and Zhong. It's not a big deal, and he didn't really look forward to seeing some childhood playmates, but Li Shishi has already mentioned it many times, and it's not easy to push it to the end.

At that time, I wanted to go in and leave with a note, but the teacher paid a lot of attention to him, and then took the time to come out to see her dressed in full clothes, with a big white flower on her head, which was quite a goddess style. After a few words with Ning Yi, he promised that he would make an appointment with Hezhong and Chen Sifeng in the next few days, and give him the news, and then he turned back in a hurry. In the past, the second day of Fanlou was the second day of the fifth lunar month. Li Shishi sent a letter, saying that he could meet with a few friends on the fourth day of the fifth lunar month and before the Dragon Boat Festival, and asked if Ning Yi was free, and Ning Yi would Promise.

On the other hand, with the help of Mrs. Qin and others, Yunzhu and Jin'er also found a small courtyard not far from the residence of the Right Prime Minister. After Ning Yi left, Yunzhu could move in. The surrounding environment is quiet, and there are also many guards and servants of the Right Prime Minister's Mansion. With the care of the Prime Minister's Mansion, they should be guaranteed that they will not be bullied in the capital.

These things are trivial and trivial, and the only one who can make Ning Yi feel a little distressed and helpless is Jin'er. Ning Yi couldn't talk to Yunzhu about these things either. Jin'er's attitude towards him was either stubborn and confrontational. Yesterday, the two happened to meet at the gate of the courtyard. Side, at the beginning, it may have been inadvertent, and they all planned to give way. After doing this a few times, Jin'er became interested in blocking his way. As a result, the two confronted each other childishly for a minute or two, when Ning Yi felt that he was bored. , Jin'er made a "I won" gesture and walked past him with her head held high, or she turned around and walked away as soon as she saw him. It seemed that the choice of coping mode was entirely up to her mood.

The time is approaching the Dragon Boat Festival, and there is already a lively festive atmosphere in Bianliang City. Zongzi, dragon boat races, mugwort leaves, calamus... In this year, May 5th is a big festival after all, but it's a pity that Tan'er can't come up for the time being. The sky is about to set off eastbound, and it is impossible to reunite with the family.

On the afternoon of the third day of the fifth lunar month, when Ning Yi came back from outside, he saw Yuan Jiner sitting by the railing outside the courtyard. I'm here to find you. I've been waiting for you for a long time."

"Zhou Pei?"

"Well. Xiaochan went to your yard to clean up, and Sister Yunzhu entertained her inside."

Of course she was talking about the yard newly bought by Ning Yi. After passing the words on business, he walked past Ning Yi with a snort. Ning Yi thought about it, it was not the way to go on like this, he turned around and said, "Hey, Yuan Jin... Er..." His words were out of his mouth. However, Yuan Jin'er over there suddenly covered her ears with her hands and ran away wildly.

"...Ha." Ning Yi couldn't help laughing and crying. When he went back to his room, he saw Yun Zhu was drinking tea and talking with the little princess, and the sunlight was seeping in from the window lattice. The gestures are quite pleasing to the eye. Seeing Ning Yi come back, Yun Zhu smiled and said a few words to him, and left.

"How's it going to live in Prince Chong's Mansion?"

"It's good. Uncle Seventh Emperor takes good care of me, as are my cousins and cousins. They have shown me a lot of things recently."

After salute Ning Yi, Ning Yi asked about Zhou Pei casually, and Zhou Pei answered quite honestly. in speaking. Ning Yi walked to the table. He sorted out some papers on the table, and he wrote a lot in the past two days. Some have already been sorted, and some have not been sorted yet. When they went out, they told Xiaochan not to move around, and only pressed them with paperweights or books. Zhou Pei was holding a teacup over there and secretly looked here. She had been here for a while. Although she didn't mess with the things on the table, she must have seen some. Ning Yi didn't mind, just wrote with the quill pen. The words are a little ugly.

"You're smart, and you're good at learning. I've heard that. What kind of high-ranking scholars are impressed by you? Oh, I think your cousins and cousins in the capital, many people have started to worship you..."

"That's not true..." Zhou Pei muttered in a low voice, Ning Yi sitting at the desk couldn't hear clearly: "What?"

"Nothing." Zhou Pei smiled.

"Heh, what will happen to the poems in the wood-picking garden?"

"Why didn't the teacher go?"

"Huh?" Ning Yi blinked, "I've been busy lately, not to mention I'm not very interested in poetry clubs and the like."

"Grandpa Qin originally said that the teacher might be interested..."

"Oh? Did he say it?" Ning Yi thought for a while, "He did persuade me to take a look, but... I still didn't have time after that."

Ning Yi said, turned around and continued to organize the manuscript. Zhou Pei said "oh" over there. When Ning Yi turned to look, he saw the girl sitting there with her head lowered, her hands clasped on her lap, and the light coming in from the door. , his eyes seemed a little melancholy, and he didn't know what he was thinking: "What's wrong?"

"Ah... No, no." Zhou Pei laughed, "I originally... thought the teacher was not interested in poetry..."

She said it reluctantly, and Ning Yi didn't know why, but the little girl's mind was not very easy to guess. Turning the subject, he asked with a smile, "I just wanted to ask, did you see any young talents at the poetry meeting in the wood-picking garden?"

"There are many." Zhou Pei smiled, "It's not bad."

"It means you like it."

"Ah, that..." The girl blushed slightly, reached out and stroked her hair and temples, "No, no, I don't know much..."

"You have to hurry up." Ning Yi smiled, "The talented people in the world are gathered in one place in the capital. When you come here this time, no matter what, you must choose one. Don't be in a hurry. With your talent and intelligence, it shouldn't be a problem what kind of person you choose."

"But teacher, if..." Zhou Pei raised his head, looked at this side, and said hesitantly, "If...you don't like it..."

"Women in the world, not many people have the opportunity to choose their own son-in-law." With his back to her, Ning Yi shook his head, "Xiao Pei, you are a smart person, if you don't nod your head this time, what will happen next? It's a little hard to say. Concubine Kang has already greeted you from Prince Chong's Mansion and your grandfather Qin's side. I brought you up this time because I think you can only find it in the capital. After all, you are fifteen years old. What if you don't get married?" He thought for a moment, then smiled again: "If you are a man, you don't need to worry so much, but who knows that the matchmaker who was ordered by your parents didn't marry a wicked woman, hehe. , think about it."

"It would be great if it was a man..." Zhou Pei lowered his head and muttered, "Teacher, what do you think... How should I choose? What kind of person should I choose?"

"How do I know." Ning Yi couldn't help laughing, "I only recently learned that I'm not very good at picking up girls."

"Pick up, pick up a girl? What..."

"It's the things between men and women... It's up to you to decide who you want to choose." Ning Yi sorted out the things and moved the chair. turned around. Looking at the little county master here, "However, you call me teacher, and I'll tell you what I think... Zhou Pei, you have a high vision, but in fact, people in this world are almost the same. Except for those notorious, Second-generation ancestors like Hua Hua Tai Sui are so used to being helpless by their family. Most of them are still within the normal range. They are not too bad-tempered, they are willing to love their wives, and hope that everything in their family will be fine. "

He held a manuscript sorted out in his hand and smiled: "When a man and a woman are together, generally speaking, it is the big charm that changes the small charm. Xiao Pei, you are from a royal family. You are beautiful and smart. If you are sensible, if you find a man casually, you will surely respect and love you. As long as you have the means to get along with a husband and wife, be gentle and treat him equally. Generally speaking, men are not all white-eyed wolves. He married Others. Maybe they will try their best to find a concubine to visit the brothel. If you marry you, it will be different. Look at Concubine Kang. Don't they live happily? Half of it is because Concubine Kang is good, and the other half is Her Royal Highness Princess Chengguo. It's from the business, so... don't be too picky. That's all I can say, just relax, there are many more poetry conferences to come, you can watch it slowly."

After Ning Yi said this, Zhou Pei said, "Will the teacher go to the poetry festival to see it?"

"Oh, help you pick a husband-in-law, I won't do it, I can't do it."

"But teacher..." Zhou Pei thought for a while, "I can help them test them, um, such as poetry, knowledge..."

"Don't use this to pick a husband-in-law!" Ning Yi waved his hand and shook his head, "These things are fine, of course, to pick a husband-in-law, you must choose someone who is kinder, with a good heart, and will treat you well after marrying you. That kind of. People with good poetry are not necessarily good at heart. These people are arrogant and arrogant. When they are underappreciated, they are mostly partial and angry. It's all a tragedy... You should find a good guy, not a great guy."

After all, Ning Yi is not very good at marriage. It's just that later generations have seen that if both men and women are excellent, or because of such excellent marriages, there are often no good results. When it comes to living together, someone in every way has to give in. Nowadays, most of the people who give in are women, while men can play freely, but Zhou Pei is a royal family, so even if he wants to give in, he may not give up much. , to find an excellent man who can get married is basically equal to finding unhappiness for the rest of your life.

It was enough for him to say this. Instead, Zhou Pei frowned and became a little confused. Ning Yi could only let her digest these things slowly. The master and apprentice then talked about some other trivial matters. Zhou Pei was interested in what Ning Yi had written, so Ning Yi showed it to her. something like below. In normal times, Zhou Pei would have been very enthusiastic about the talks, but at this time, she was in a bad mood. She picked up the quill and studied it. She felt that writing in this way was really ugly, but Ning Yi wrote in such high spirits that she couldn't understand it.

After staying here for dinner, Zhou Pei just left the Wenhui Building. At the same time, he also knew that before the tenth day of May, Ning Yi would leave Bianliang and go to Shandong. He went to this time in order to fight against Liangshan. I am afraid that there will be no results in a few months. After the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, I am afraid that he will have to decide who will be his husband-in-law. When the teacher returns from Shandong, he should She has left the capital and went back to marry someone else's wife. In the imagination of this coming and going, it really gives people a rather complicated feeling.

She came here this time, naturally not just to talk about these trivial things, but it was difficult for her to summarize what she wanted to say.

When I was in Jiangning before, I was a little nervous about the marriage, but it was not serious. When I hid in the box and wanted to go north with the boat, I was quite excited, as if a new hope was unfolding before my eyes. Accompanying the teacher and the others along the way, and thieves from Liangshan came to die, it was very exciting, and she didn't feel bored at all. However, in the few days after entering the capital, something finally came down. Even though Uncle Seventh Emperor was very kind to her, Qin Siyuan also let her take the opportunity to play more in the capital, but she suddenly understood in her heart that this Things can't be avoided.

She came to find Ning Yi today, and originally wanted to ask him why he didn't go to the poetry club. Ning Yi didn't know, after coming to the capital. Although a group of sisters in Prince Chong's mansion was responsible for entertaining her. But in fact, when a large group of people gather together, the atmosphere may not be harmonious. At first, the other party regarded her as a country bumpkin, but Zhou Pei's talent and manners were outstanding, and he soon changed everyone's opinion. This change did not necessarily make everyone admire her, but attracted a lot of jealousy and hostility. , Some of the cousins may look at him with admiration. On the woman's side, she may not think highly of herself, or speak sarcastically behind her back, or plan to make her embarrassed, and so on.

These things do not go out, born in the royal family, even in Jiangning. She has seen a lot of this kind of intrigue, and naturally has a way to deal with it. As long as you ignore others in a generous manner, others will naturally be at a disadvantage. It's just that when talking about poetry, Zhou Pei proudly talked about Ning Yi's lyrics, and said that this is his teacher, and he came to Bianliang, so people caught the topic.

Some people don't believe how good her teacher is, and there are many others. Purely with an xenophobic mentality. I think that the first talent in Jiangning is of course no better than the talent in Bianliang. Moreover, Ning Yi once said that "poetry is sung by Taoist priests". In Jiangning, everyone is already familiar with it, and naturally they know this is a joke, but in Bianliang, someone will say something like "I heard that the poem was copied". So many kinds, and so on. The rest were clamoring to let Ningyi participate in the poetry meeting and write some poems to see.

Zhou Pei admired Ning Yi in her heart, but she also hoped that Ning Yi would stand up and slap these people in the face. In the cynicism of each other, although she did not directly accept the test for Ning Yi, she also made some assumptions, for example, "If the teacher makes a move, you will know." She hoped that Ning Yi would try to participate in the poetry meeting in Caimuyuan. , asked Qin Siyuan to make an invitation, but Qin Siyuan naturally couldn't tell Ning Yi "you must go", he felt that Ning Yi had just arrived in Bianliang, maybe he would join in the fun, and he tried his best to tell Ning Yi, I also hope that Jue Ming can take Ning Yi to go shopping. If it wasn't for what happened to Jin'er, Ning Yi would bury his head in his work, maybe he would still go to the wood-picking garden to see what kind of grand occasion the poetry scene in the capital would be like.

The day before the poetry meeting, a person named Ruan Weitong sent an invitation, which belonged to the rich family who opposed Zhou Pei. They probably think that since they are the first talents, they must be thinking about advancing with literary talent. The Poetry Festival in Caimu Garden is the first-class event in Bianliang. Comparing him at the meeting will make Zhou Pei disgraced, who knows that Ning Yi will not give face to anyone. In the end, the two sides can only spray each other with the mouth cannon.

On Zhou Pei's side, of course, she was ridiculed even more, and she could only face such a thing with arrogance and silence. It can't be considered a failure, but there are not many people on her side after all.

It was impossible for Ning Yi to know such a tortuous process. On the other hand, when the depression of the poetry meeting and the pressure of getting married were really combined, Zhou Pei suddenly thought of some things. Those things were no longer for her to stop thinking about when she was at the poetry meeting. In the same way, but she also had to admit that her standard for viewing these people was based on this teacher who was only a few years older than her.

This kind of thing, in later generations, may be similar to a girl who is just beginning to fall in love with a handsome class teacher, and it will be remembered in her heart when she grows up, but it will not have any results. But Zhou Pei can't get the kind of life trajectory of later girls. The fact that she fell in love with the teacher had germinated early on, but at that time she could not think about it or deny it, but this time it was impossible. This kind of thing is superimposed on the grievances at the poetry meeting, making her feel... a little like crying.

She came here with such emotions, but after seeing Ning Yi, she suddenly understood that the teacher came to Beijing with a family of hundreds of blood feuds, and he did not promise that he would go to any poetry party. So grieved, it's like a child who doesn't understand anything. On the other hand, she certainly couldn't say anything about her liking.

She can't marry the teacher at all, everything is clear, no matter how she sacrifices herself, things are impossible. She is a smart person, these things are not necessary to export, they can only make people tangled and embarrassed.

So in the end, nothing can be said.

The carriage drove away from the Wenhui Building, and the lanterns first came on. She looked back at the inn, and the light around the street reflected on the girl's face, jumping brightly and darkly. Bianliang City is much bigger, more prosperous, and more exciting than Jiangning where she lived since she was a child. When she came here, she also thought that she would see many different scenery. It seems pointless. I don’t know how to go, I don’t know what to do next, where to go, who will accept it, what decision I can make…

The night wind blew, stroking his hair. She sat back in the carriage, the surroundings were empty and there was nothing, the emptiness continued to extend, carrying her running through the crowds and streets of Bianliang. It was the first time in my life that it was brought about by growing up...

huge daze.

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Two more words! (… )