On the second day, Cao Yi got up early to exercise according to the schedule he set as usual. In this era when the frontier is not very peaceful, and the Western Xia and Liao countries are eyeing each other, if you don't learn some martial arts, you will only become a useless scholar. In addition, yesterday he met Yan Shu, who was born decades in advance, which made Cao Yi begin to realize that the history of the Great Yan Dynasty was not carried out according to the actual history, and I don't know if it was because of the butterfly effect caused by his soul crossing over and causing a series of changes, which also gave him an inexplicable sense of crisis, living in this unknown troubled world, everything still has to rely on himself, and it is good to make some preparations as soon as possible.

After more than a year of exercising and working hard with Liu Baiqing, Cao Yi has now changed from a weak and rich child to a body that is at least stronger than most scholars. And Cao Yi has his own set of warm-up methods to press his legs and stretch his shoulders, Liu Baiqing asked Cao Yi once where he learned this, and Cao Yi also replied, saying that someone taught him this action in a dream, and there is a strange name, called "The Times Are Calling"......

Of course, this is Cao Yi's ridicule of Liu Baiqing, a personal guard. It's just that he didn't react to this ridicule of Liu Baiqing, and he couldn't catch this stalk, just standing at the height of his martial arts master to analyze it, it does have some effect, it is suitable for people like Cao Yi who have no martial arts skills to perform, and if he persists for a long time, he can still strengthen his body, as for how long, he only said that it will take at least a few decades.

For Liu Baiqing, a personal guard with a slightly stuffy temperament, Cao Yi sometimes couldn't tease him even if he wanted to, the two of them silently ran around the runway next to the martial arts arena, about five incense sticks later, Cao Yi was already sweating profusely, and Liu Baiqing breathed evenly as if he hadn't exercised.

Then the two began to fight untouchably, saying that it was a competition, but in fact, it was Liu Baiqing who unilaterally fed Cao Yi and practiced his hands. Although Cao Yi has grown taller than ordinary people, he is only fifteen years old after all, and his strength is not very sufficient, and he has only started to practice martial arts in the past year, and the effect has not been reflected so quickly.

At the beginning, Cao Yi couldn't make a move under Liu Baiqing's hands, and he would be put to the ground, but he was not discouraged, he continued to come again after one failure, and again when he failed again, until he was out of breath and collapsed on the ground without any strength.

Up to now, Cao Yi has made great progress, and he can basically go through two moves under Liu Baiqing...... Don't look at it, it's just one more move, but Liu Baiqing himself is a master sent by Cao Bin, the first good general of the Great Yan Dynasty, to protect his son, and it is already a great transformation to be able to hold up one more move. Although sometimes he is afraid of hurting his son with a heavy hand and does not dare to exert his full strength, it is already commendable for a weak scholar who has only been practicing for a year.

At least Liu Baiqing's evaluation of Cao Yi is still quite high, especially his son's good attitude, willing to endure hardships, good at thinking and summarizing, rather than stupid practice, in terms of the "anti-joint skills" and "fighting" tricks often mentioned by the son, they are very worthy of reference and reference.

"Childe, Madame asked me to summon you over for breakfast." Just after an hour of practice, Red Sleeves came over to pass the word. Cao Yi hurriedly returned to his room and washed hastily before rushing to Manjushri Garden.

……

"Mother, I'm here!" Cao Yi has not yet arrived, the voice has come from afar, for the mother of this life, Cao Yi is still very respectful, in the months after his illness, every day chanting the Buddha and praying for safety, taking care of the left and right, Cao Yi can also feel her strong and unreserved maternal love for herself, so that he just came to this world at that time, felt the warmth.

"Yi'er, my mother has heard from Steward Wang about your winning three championships in a row in the Jinling Poetry Club yesterday, and you are also known as the first talent in Jiangning, and you have the talent of immortals, but is it true?" Mrs. Gao stretched out her hand and pulled Cao Yi to sit down beside her, and asked with a smile.

"Mother, those are all falsely praised by others, and if you spread too much, you will kill your son and me. However, last night it was indeed lucky to win the three leaders, as for the first talent in Jiangning, they are all false names, and there are no gold and silver property rewards, so don't do it. ”

"That's not the same, others praise your mother and will be happy when she hears it, if the lord knows that our little eight won the third place in a row at the Jinling Poetry Conference, he will definitely be very happy, and the mother will write a letter for people to send over, so that the lord will be happy." Mrs. Gao personally served a bowl of white porridge to Cao Yi, and sat next to Cao Yi to watch Cao Yi eat.

"Yi'er, what my mother told you yesterday about matching all the maids, did my mother handle it for you, or did you buy it yourself?" Mrs. Gao asked in a low voice while sandwiching the accompaniment to Cao Yi.

"Hmm...... Mother, I'll buy it myself, after all, it will follow me for a long time in the future, or I will choose the one that is pleasing to the eye. ”

"Okay, after you finish breakfast, let Red Sleeves go to the treasury steward to receive five hundred taels of silver, and you can go to Ya Pozi by yourself or go to the Qinglou Hook Bar to choose the singers and dancers who have not yet been combed."

Then they talked about going to Jiangning Mansion to study and class, and Cao Yi also agreed, and everything was arranged by his mother.

Cao Yi finished breakfast, so he taught the servants to follow Red Sleeves to the treasury steward to receive 500 taels of silver, and then went out to buy a maid. In fact, Cao Yi is not very acceptable to this, but it is not easy to refute the care of his mother. The Cao family, as one of the top food families in the Great Yan Dynasty, has decent etiquette in every move, and it is also the most disciplined, even the configuration of maids and slaves after the sister-in-law ties his hair, there are regulations. Therefore, what measures did Cao Yi make that did not conform to the identity of the Cao family's son-in-law, which would provoke ridicule from the children of other families.

Out of the gate of Cao's house, Cao Yi went straight to Jinfeng Tower, of course Cao Gongzi didn't go there to look for flowers and willows early in the morning, not to mention that he also wore a personal maid with red sleeves. Cao Yi directly found Li Yanhong, the old bustard of Jinfeng Building, and told him that he wanted to buy seven singers and dancers who had not yet been combed to be personal maids.

In fact, the Qinhuai River area has been a place of wind and moon since ancient times, and it is close to Yangzhou, and there have always been Ya Po who specially bought daughters from poor families who could not eat, cultivated them in the way of Yangzhou thin horses, and then resold them to Qinglou or wealthy families.

According to the posture, it is roughly divided into three classes: girls with first-class qualifications have to teach all kinds of lewd skills such as playing the piano and, chanting poetry and writing, painting and Go since childhood, as well as various fine makeup skills and body and dance training. Those with second-class qualifications can also read and play some songs, but the main thing is to be trained to be a financial and accounting talent, know how to keep accounts and manage things, so as to assist businessmen and become a good assistant. Girls with third-class qualifications are not allowed to read and write, but only learn some female celebrity, tailoring, or "fried and steamed crisp, cooking food, arranging fruits, and each has their own skills, and is trained to be a suitable rough little maid."

As for combing, it is the usual name in the Qinglou, most of them are bought in the Qinglou, and they are raised by the bustard, and they have their own strength, and the bustard is also more cared for, but they are just selling their art and not selling their bodies. As for those who are a little weaker or don't like the bustards, they generally stay until they are thirteen or fourteen years old, and then they start to pick up customers.

From the first time I picked up a customer, it was called combing. And there are different ways to be combed at different ages, if you are thirteen years old, it is called "trying flowers". At this time, the woman is still young, and it will be very painful to be "combed" at this time, and the prince and son who come to "comb" will not feel how happy, just a false name. Unless the bustard loves money, the Qinglou girl will not be "combed" at this age. If it is fourteen years old, it is called "flowering". At this time, the woman's day had arrived, and Qinglou felt that the time was just right, and it was a good time to be "combed". If at the age of fifteen, it is called "picking flowers", and a woman of this age, if she is not married in ordinary people's homes, is still young, but in the Qinglou, she is only "combed" at this time, which is relatively late.

In this era, the Qinglou woman was "combed", which is also a major event in the Qinglou, not only to screen the children who come to "comb and play", negotiate the price, but also celebrate the Qinglou. When the children who come to "comb and play", when they get up early the next day, the bustard will enter the room to congratulate them, and their peers will come to congratulate them, and they will hold a banquet for a few days. Moreover, the children who come to "comb" live in the Qinglou for a month or two, at least one or twenty days, and the cost of living in the back is also very considerable.

So this time, Cao Yi asked for seven girls who had not yet been combed by the bustard, which really made Li Yanhong feel embarrassed, after cultivating for so long, she was about to start making money for Jinfeng Lou, and she was reluctant to be bought after all; Second, the women cultivated by a Qinglou at the same time are limited after all, and if they are sold at this time, the replacement of the follow-up top Oiran of Jinfeng Lou will be a little less good seedlings, and they will be overtaken by other Qinglou.