"Well, today's jujube mud cake is really steamed fragrant and sweet, and the appearance is also extremely impressive. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoI believe that when the young master of Chaoyang sees it, he will be very happy. ”

On the ninth day of the fifth month, in the stove room of the "Murderous House", Xiaoxiao, who was busy making pastries with Xia Shuanghan, only opened the steamer and smelled it, and was swallowed hard by the fragrance of the steamed jujube paste cake in the cage.

"The pastries that have just come out of the steamer are the most delicious, don't put up with it, let's eat it first." After eating in a while, you stay and clean up the stove, and I will wrap the pastries and send them to Chaoyang. ”

Holding his brother's favorite dim sum all the way to Xia's house, Xia Shuanghan turned into Shuanghe Lane, where Xia's house was located, but once again became the focus of attention of the neighbors.

"Uncle Zhong, what's going on? Why is there a young girl crying with pear blossoms and rain kneeling in front of our door in this blue sky and white day? ”

Under the gaze of the neighbors, Xia Shuanghan, who came to the gate of his house, saw Xia Shuanghan, a slender and beautiful young woman kneeling outside the gate of his house, grabbed Uncle Zhong, who was standing on the stone steps at the door, and his eyes were full of doubts.

"Miss Hui, things are actually like this...... Because Xia Hanlin was not on duty and Xia Chaoyang did not go home, there was no master at home to make up his mind, so he was a little undecided, and Uncle Zhong, who was not sure what to do with the woman in front of him, made up his mind the moment he saw Xia Shuanghan.

According to Uncle Zhong's concise and concise account, the reason why this young woman found the Xia family began in late April.

On the twenty-fourth day of April, Xia Jingzhi, who was able to rest at home because of his daughter's marriage, went to the suburbs to enjoy the scenery and paint in the early morning with various painting utensils. It wasn't until the afternoon when the sun was getting hotter that he couldn't stand the sun that he packed up his painting tools and ordered Uncle Zhong to drive back in the carriage.

On the way home, Xia Jingzhi, who had already entered the city, inadvertently met a woman who sold herself to bury her father on the street, and that woman was exactly the girl who was kneeling outside the door of Xia's house now.

Originally, Xia Jingzhi didn't care about such a thing of selling his body to bury his father and burying his mother on weekdays. After all, there are more poor people in the world, and he, a poor Hanlin, really doesn't have the ability to help the world.

It's just that when the carriage passed in front of the woman, it was heard from her accent that the father and daughter should be their hometown Xia Jingzhi, but they still couldn't help but feel compassion.

Xia Jingzhi, who greeted the carriage and walked out of the car to ask the woman, quickly figured out the basic situation of the father and daughter in a few words.

The father and daughter who came to the northwest border city originally came to the capital with the tokens left by their elders to complete the marriage contract set by the previous generation.

It's a pity that when the father rushed to the capital with his daughter thousands of miles away, and finally found the man's house after many searches and explorations, the man who had set up a baby kiss with the woman had already died.

Both the father and the young man died, leaving only the man's elderly grandmother, his mother's ruined mother, and a young sister's family. So, the father and daughter who came to the door had no choice but to accept the facts and reluctantly dissolve the marriage contract.

Before the woman's father took her into Beijing to look for someone, he was already seriously ill and couldn't hold on for long. And the father and daughter, who already had meager savings at home, spent a few coils because of the hardships and hardships along the way to Beijing.

As a result, the woman whose fiancé had already died and her father soon fell seriously ill and died had no choice but to sell her body on the street to bury her father.

Hearing what happened to the father and daughter, Xia Jingzhi, who was embarrassed and emotional, decided to lend a hand to save his fellow countrymen. So, Xia Jingzhi, who decisively took out the silver to help the woman bury her father, took the woman to the Rong caravan camp outside the southern city gate.

Xia Jingzhi, who has no shortage of girls in his own family, and who also does not have the ability to properly place this woman in the capital, has this idea in his heart: "Although this woman said that in the northwest border city of her hometown, she has no relatives, and it is difficult to continue to live her life when she goes back, so she will implore me and ask me to take her as a girl and stay in the capital, so that she can have a way to live." ”

"But I think that since she grew up in a border city when she was a child, and the neighbors know her well, it is better for her to go back to her hometown, find a young man from a neighbor's family to marry, build a family of her own, and find a real support for the rest of her life."

After arriving at the caravan camp with the woman, Xia Jingzhi found his old acquaintance Hazru and begged him to take the woman back to her hometown near the northwest border pass when he left Beijing in early June.

It's just that somehow, she obviously accepted Xia Jingzhi's arrangement happily that day, and obediently stayed in the camp, but today she suddenly ran into the city, and found the gate of Xia's house, crying that she wanted to stay and be a girl for Xia Jingzhi.

"When my father took this woman to the camp outside the city to look for Uncle Hazru, you accompanied him in a carriage?"

Listening to Uncle Zhong's general account of the cause and effect of the incident, Xia Shuanghan, who still had a few doubts in her heart, frowned and asked, "Are you sure that on the day my father took her to the camp, this woman did willingly accept my father's arrangement and agreed to follow the caravan back to the northwest in early June?" ”

"Miss Hui, that's true."

Carefully recalling the past for a moment, Uncle Zhong, who was sure that he was absolutely not mistaken, said truthfully: "When the lord left this girl in the caravan, she thought that it would be a good idea to go back to her hometown to marry, and she knelt down and kowtowed to the lord three times, and kept saying words of thanks. So now, instead of staying in the camp to help the caravan, she came here to ask for a meeting, which is really strange. ”

"Okay, I got it." After carefully going through the news in his mind, he handed the pastry in his hand to Uncle Zhong, nodded and motioned him to go into the courtyard, and Xia Shuanghan, who had been handed over by the woman to her, walked down the steps in front of the gate to the woman, and stretched out his hands to pull her up from the ground. "Girl, what's your name? How old is this year? ”

"Folk Girl...... The name of the folk girl is Green Water. After standing up, he quickly raised his head and glanced at Xia Shuanghan, and then looked at the woman with a frightened look on his face again, and whispered: "The folk girl is nineteen years old this year. ”

"Really? Nineteen! That's as big as me! ”

Xia Shuanghan, who bent down with a smile on his face, raised his hand to pat the floating ash on the woman's knee and said, "Girl, look, my father Xia Hanlin is on duty today and will not come back until dusk." My brother is still a child and can't be the master, so instead of kneeling here, you should go home with me first. My house is not far from here, let's go there and talk about it, okay? ”

"Countryman Niangniang, you can do whatever you say." Flattered by Xia Shuanghan's pat, he took two steps back, and then accepted her proposal without doubt, and when he followed Xia Shuanghan, he went to the "murderous mansion" with her.

In the main hall of the main courtyard of the "Murderous Mansion", in the process of listening to Uncle Zhong's story, Xia Shuanghan, who had already been suspicious of the green water, finally opened the skylight and spoke without scruples after returning to his own territory.

"Green Water Girl, before discussing whether the Xia family wants to take you in, I have two questions I want to ask you."

Judging from Lu Shui's natural and proficient northwest accent and the thin calluses on her hands, Xia Shuanghan, who thinks that her past of "a folk girl living in the northwest border city since she was a child and has been relying on agriculture for a living all year round" should not be a lie: "First question, I want to ask you, how did you know about the fact that the Xia family is located in Shuanghe Lane, Dongcheng District, Beijing?" ”

"I remember Uncle Zhong making it very clear that my father was on his way home to help you bury your father, and then take you to the caravan camp outside the city to find Hazrub. So, when he never took you to Xia's house from beginning to end, how did you know where my house was, and then came to your door today? ”

"Yes...... It was Lord Xia who told the people's daughter. Because of a question from Xia Shuanghan, who showed an even more obvious look of fear, the pale green water explained: "On the carriage to the caravan camp, Lord Xia once mentioned the address of Xia's house to the Minnu, and Lord Xia also said that if the Minnu encountered any difficulties before leaving Beijing, she could go to him for help. ”

"Oh? Is it? But according to what I know about my father, this is not in his usual style! ”

With a playful smile on his face, Xia Shuanghan squinted his eyes slightly at the green water and said: "In such a place like the capital that you are completely unfamiliar with, even if my father told you that before you leave Beijing, if you encounter difficulties, you can go to him for help, and he will not be able to tell you an address that is likely to be forgotten by you soon." ”

"After all, it is obviously much simpler and easier to introduce you to Uncle Hazlu, and then tell you that if you encounter difficulties, you can ask him to bring you to the Xia family for help, isn't it? After all, a human face is easier to remember to you than an empty, abstract address. ”

"Min...... The Minnu remembered wrongly, the address of the Xia family was not told to the Minnu by Lord Xia, but ...... It was the folk girl who inquired about it from the people in the caravan. After being questioned and opposed by Xia Shuanghan, Lu Shui, who immediately changed his words, made a correction speech, which made the playful smile on Xia Shuanghan's face even thicker.

"Oh! You asked the people in the caravan! So the second question, when you and I don't know each other, and you have only arrived in the capital for a long time, where did you know that I have the rank of a countryman? ”

"Returning to the hometown, the only daughter of Lord Xia is a loyal and righteous villager, and I overheard them talk about it when I was chatting with those Rong merchants in the caravan camp."

"Really? It turns out that you also listened to them about this! ”

Xia Shuanghan, who nodded understandingly, and then put away all the smiles on his face, said, "Green water, don't you know?" For the Rong people, who are difficult to remember the names of the Han people's streets, and they can't figure out the reward grades of Han women, whether it is the exact address of the Xia family or the identity of my loyal and righteous countryman, it is impossible for everyone in the caravan to really explain clearly. ”

"So, where did you learn about the Xia family when Uncle Hazru could easily find the Xia family, but he couldn't tell the Xia family's address, and he couldn't remember the word 'Xiangjun' at all?"

"Folk Girl...... The folk girl ...... "Hit the green water that only half of her body was sitting on the chair from the beginning, and when she heard Xia Shuanghan's words, she immediately knotted her tongue and trembled, and her face became more and more panicked.

"Green water, do you still refuse to say it until now? You really need me to find out, since you were sent to the camp, who have you been in contact with, and who have you listened to, so you changed your original mind, and ran to my door with ulterior motives, crying that you want to stay and be a girl for my father. ”

At this point, Xia Shuanghan, who was slightly paused, hooked the corners of his lips and said with an evil spirit: "You must know that the reason why you, as a helpless orphan girl, can sit here and talk to me today is only because of my father's temporary mercy. But if you don't know what to do and squander this little mercy, then what will happen to you, you can roughly guess what will happen? ”

“...... Xiangjun Niangniang, I said, I said, I said everything. The green water that was scared by Xia Shuanghan's words scared the last trace of luck and guts, when he knelt in front of Xia Shuanghan with a "plop", he hurriedly poured beans into the bamboo tube and said: "The reason why the people's girls know the address of the Xia family and your status as a township gentleman is because I heard from the two women. And the reason why the folk girl changed her original intention and knelt at the door of Xia's house, begging to be able to stay in the capital, was also because she was bewitched by those two women. ”

"Not long ago, when she was in the caravan camp, the folk girl really accepted Lord Xia's arrangement and helped the caravan wholeheartedly, just to be worthy of her kindness to Lord Xia. However, one day, two girls who had come to the camp to buy things suddenly grabbed me and said something to me, which made me greedy and deluded to do such a foolish thing today. ”

It turned out that on the first day of the fifth lunar month, the two girls in Lushuikou, on the grounds that they had never seen a Han girl helping in the camp, approached Lushui curiously and asked her questions, such as "Are you not the future daughter-in-law of a young man of the Rong tribe who is about to marry", and after Lushui said no, they led her to open the conversation box little by little, telling her about her life experience and bumpy encounters.

"In this way, it was Xia Hanlin who lived in Shuanghe Lane who lent you a hand?"

"The two girls know Lord Xia?"

"I can't talk about acquaintance, but from your description, it can be inferred that the benefactor in your mouth must be Xia Hanlin. The surname is Xia, he is an official, he is poor, and he is very familiar with the Rong caravan, and he can fully meet these conditions in Beijing, except for a Xia Hanlin, there is no one else to be found. After all, his daughter who is of mixed Rong and Han descent, and is a loyal and righteous countryman, is very famous in Beijing. ”

"Really? It turns out that the noble person I was lucky enough to meet was so famous? ”

"So, are you really willing to accept Xia Hanlin's arrangement and return to your hometown in the northwest border city?"

"Of course, according to Lord Xia's arrangement, go back to your hometown to find a young man who knows the roots and know the bottom to marry, and stabilize the rest of your life, isn't it great?"

"Okay, why is this girl of yours an elm head? Think about it for yourself, is it the same to marry a farmer, can marrying in the suburbs of Beijing be the same as marrying back to your hometown? What kind of place is this in the capital, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, rich and prosperous, whatever you want, as long as you have money, you have everything. But what is in your hometown in the backwoods? Nothing, right? Does it mean that you don't want to stay in the capital to see the world, marry the people of the capital in the future, and fundamentally change your life? ”

"This ...... Who wouldn't want to stay in a big place like Beijing? But I have no support and no long things, and I can't stay if I want to! ”

"So you call you stupid! Since you sold yourself to bury your father, and Lord Xia helped you with money, then you should be the maid of the Xia family now. If you become the handmaid of the Xia family, won't you be able to stay in the capital safely? Since Lord Xia was able to help you in the first place, then a good person like him is definitely not a master who will treat his subordinates harshly, so as long as you can stay in the Xia family, it is basically equivalent to stepping one foot through the gate of the capital safely. ”

"I heard that among the descendants of the Xia Hanlin family, there are still two young people who are getting older and need to be married but have not yet been decided, so if you can stay in the Xia family, maybe a building near the water will get the moon first, and you can marry in the past and become a person from the capital from then on? Think about it for yourself, if you have a child in the future, are you willing to let your child grow up in the capital and see the world, or are you willing to let him live in the poor countryside for the rest of his life? ”

"I ...... Of course I'd like the former. ”

"So, if you want to change your own fate or even the fate of future generations, you shouldn't stay in this caravan camp now, but you should go to Xia Hanlin's house and kneel down and beg him to take you in."

"But this ...... I stayed in this camp according to Lord Xia's request, and now I suddenly appeared outside Lord Xia's house and asked him to keep me in the capital. ”

"You say you can't find a reason? Hi! It's so easy! You just said that you have been in the camp for these days, and the more you experience the kindness of the people in the caravan, the more you will have a bad conscience, and think that it is really inappropriate for you to accept such a great kindness from Lord Xia, but you have nothing in return. Therefore, you are willing to give up the opportunity to return to your hometown, and only want to stay in the Xia family as a maidservant to repay Lord Xia's kindness to you. ”

"This ...... Will this work? ”

"Why not? Absolutely! The Xia family is thin, and Mrs. Xia, who died early, only left a son and a daughter for Lord Xia. Now that Miss Xia is married, Xia Xiaogongzi is young, regardless of whether it is pulp washing, stove cooking or needlework, the Xia family needs manpower. ”

"There is only one pair of maidservants in the Xia family now, the one who is the mother is already old, and she should be old and dizzy in a few years, and the one who is the daughter is still young, but she will get married soon. Tell me, when the old and the young are useless, Lord Xia has no concubines to take care of him, you go, doesn't this suddenly show your value? ”

Listening to Lu Shui's words here, Xia Shuanghan, who had already figured out the ins and outs of the matter, pondered for a moment: The two women in Lu Shui's mouth have clear and interlocking words, and they have touched the situation of the Xia family in such detail and thoroughly, if you want to say that they didn't deliberately find Lu Shui, and prepared a statement in advance to encourage her, then I don't believe anything. However, who would be for what reason, instead of sending green water into the door of the Xia family? ”

"That's all? Are you sure that's all they told you, and nothing else? ”

Looking up at Xia Shuanghan's eyes full of coercion, the green water who was kneeling on the ground thought carefully for a moment, and then trembled and said, "They ...... They did say something else. They also laughed at the time and said that there was no woman around Lord Xia, and his son was still young, if I could enter the Xia family to envelop Xiao Gongzi Xia, it would be a concubine to be a concubine, and it would not be impossible to give birth to a young master from an official family in the future. But ......"

At this point, the green water who raised his head turned pale, and hurriedly proved his innocence: "But the folk girl definitely doesn't have the mind to climb so high. The folk girl is self-aware, and knows that if she can stay in the capital and find an honest man to marry, it will already be the best destination. As for what kind of entrapment of the little boy, vainly trying to become Lord Xia's concubine or something, Lu Shui really never dared to have that kind of thought. ”

"......" glanced at the frightened expression, chattering to himself that he definitely didn't have the green water of such a lofty mind, Xia Shuanghan finally figured out the reason why the two women deliberately approached her.

"It seems that it is not their purpose to send green water into the Xia family as a maid, they want to send green water into the Xia family to be my father's concubine, that is their real intention! It's just that even if you can send the green water into the Xia family as a concubine, what can the people behind the scenes get? ”

The Xia family has neither money nor power, but in fact, there is nothing that can be remembered by people. If Xu Jinhan, who was being tracked down by Lu Shaoyun and Su Yixing, wanted to do something to the Xia family, it would be useless to send a weak woman who was powerless to enter the door.

What's more, since Xia Jingzhi sent his wife away, he has firmly rejected the kindness of others to persuade him to continue his strings many times over the years.

Therefore, even if Lu Shui came to the door with the intention of becoming an aunt, it was impossible for her to achieve her wish, and if she could not affect the Xia family in the slightest, and at the same time could not treat Xia Chaoyang harshly, the final result that could be achieved was at best disgusting to the Xia family. (To be continued.) )