The Romance of the Famous Marshals of the Early Tang Dynasty Li Jichuan

Chapter 18 Peony Mask Scarf

On the fifth day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, just after the afternoon, Xu Gai and his wife were talking in the inner room.

At this time, the housekeeper Xu Quan reported outside the door: "Master, my son has sent a big pot of tofu and a big pot of dried tofu."

Xu Gai said: "Okay, master come and see." As he spoke, he opened the door and walked out of the inner room.

Xu Gai and housekeeper Xu Quan walked to the main hall, and housekeeper Xu Quan said: "Master, every year before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the small ones go to Da Liu Zhuang to see the Xu rats, and the small ones didn't go this year, and he came here to see the small ones after the festival."

Xu Gai and housekeeper Xu Quan came to the main hall one after the other, and Xu Gai saw a black-faced young man sitting on a chair.

After Xu Gai sat down, the housekeeper Xu Quan poured a cup of tea and hurriedly said to the black-faced young man: "Xu Mouse, come and see the master."

The black-faced young man stood up, took a step forward, bowed, and said loudly, "Xu Mouse greets the master."

Xu Gai smiled and said, "No courtesy."

The black-faced boy said, "When I made tofu this morning, I left a pot of tofu and a pot of dried tofu, and after selling the tofu in the market, I came in a carriage and asked the master to taste it."

Xu Gai said with a smile: "The soybean Liu family's tofu is well done, the master hasn't eaten it for two or three years, and today the master has a good mouth again."

Xu Gai asked the housekeeper Xu Quandao: "What is your son's name?" What are those two words? ”

The housekeeper Xu Quan replied: "Back to the master, it's called Xu Mouse, the rat of the mouse."

Xu Gai asked, "Why is this name?"

The housekeeper Xu Quan replied: "The half-immortal of Da Liu Zhuang gave the name, he said: It is easy to feed by his name, and my son is a rat, so he is named like this."

After Xu Gai heard the answer, he remembered the customs of his wife's hometown, embroidered his attributes on the back of the child's new clothes, thought about embroidering the little mouse, and smiled knowingly,

The housekeeper Xu Quan saw Xu Gai smile and was very happy,

Xu Gai took a sip of tea, smiled at Xu Mouse and said, "Xu Rat, one day you don't like this name, just tell the master, and the master will ask someone to give you another nice name."

Xu Mouse replied: "Thank you, master, Liu Shenxian said: As long as the name is different from others, this name is very good."

Xu Gai said to Xu Mouse: "The first time I saw you, I didn't prepare any gifts, so I went to the account room to pay five taels of silver to make a new set of clothes."

Xu Mouse replied, "Thank you, master."

Xu Gai took a sip of tea, and then asked, "Xu Mouse, are you willing to be a scholar for the eldest young master?"

The housekeeper Xu Quan interjected: "Master, Xu Mouse has never studied, how can he be a scholar."

Xu Gai said: "As a scholar, it doesn't matter if you don't read."

Xu Mouse asked, "Master, be a scholar for the eldest young master, can you go to Huaxia?"

Xu Gai said: "Xu Rat, now the eldest young master is learning art, and only after learning can he go to Huaxia."

Xu Gai then said: "Housekeeper, after dinner, you accompany Xu Mouse back to Da Liu Zhuang and ask his grandfather and his grandmother if they agree with Xu Mouse to be the scholar of our eldest young master."

Butler Xu Quandao: "Yes."

After dinner, the housekeeper Xu Quan got into the carriage, and Xu Mouse drove the carriage and went straight to Daliuzhuang.

On the last day of mid-autumn, just after 9~11 o'clock, in the west meditation room of the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion of Yicheng Temple, Xu Maogong sat at the table and watched the "Shennong's Materia Medica".

The temperature in the room slowly rose, Xu Maogong felt a little hot, thought about it, or go to the well, get some water, wash his face, wash his feet, and then read a book.

Xu Maogong walked out of the West Zen room, walked towards the well, and had just walked more than 20 steps when he heard a shout: "Young Master Xu, Young Master Xu."

Xu Maogong looked left and right, there was no one, continued to walk forward, took three steps forward, and heard a louder voice shouting: "Young Master Xu, Young Master Xu."

Xu Maogong looked around, but there was still no one, and looking into the distance, a black-faced head appeared on the tall wall, waving one hand at him.

Xu Maogong put down the bucket, quickly ran to the bottom of the wall, looked up at the black-faced head above, and asked with a smile, "Childe, are you looking for me?"

The black-faced young man on the wall said, "Young Master Xu, you can't call me Gongzi, the younger one is your scholar."

Xu Maogong said: "You recognize the wrong person, right? We don't have any scholars in our family. ”

The black-faced young man said, "Is your mansion the East Street of Lihu County in Caozhou?"

Xu Maogong said: "Exactly."

The black-faced young man said: "I am Master Xu's newly accepted scholar, and my father is Xu Quan, the housekeeper of your mansion."

Xu Maogong smiled: "Well, I know, do you have something to do with me?"

The black-faced young man said, "Young Master, the little one has been entrusted to give you something."

Xu Maogong smiled: "Okay, you wait for me, I'll go out to find you."

A moment later, Xu Maogong walked out of the temple gate and walked towards Xu Rat.

The black-faced young man got off the wall, shook off the dust on his body, walked in the direction of the temple gate, and looked up to see a beautiful young man walking towards him, but saw: This beautiful young man, his face is like a crown of jade, his eyes are like stars, and his nose is like a gall.

The black-faced young man thought in his heart, what a handsome young man, and suddenly remembered: Every time Jia Xiaocui mentioned the word "Xu Gongzi", the corners of his eyes showed a thief's light, oh, I understand, Jia Xiaocui wants to steal our young master.

After thinking about it, my father is really an old fool, and he said: Being a scholar is more promising than selling tofu, if this young master is stolen by Jia Xiaocui, what will I give to Master Xu?

The black-faced boy was thinking nonsense, and the beautiful boy had already walked up to him, clasped his fists and saluted, and asked, "Childe, what are you looking for me?"

The black-faced young man said, "Young master, you can call me Xu Mouse." After speaking, he untied a blue cloth bag from his body, handed it to the beautiful boy with both hands, and said, "This is the mask that Jia Xiaocui asked me to give to the young master."

Xu Maogong took the blue cloth bag and opened it to see that there were two pieces of black cloth inside, and one black cloth was embroidered with beautiful lace.

The black-faced young man came to Xu Maogong's side and said, "Young master, I saw that there are two sweet potato flowers embroidered on this masked scarf."

Xu Maogong opened a piece of black cloth on it, unfolded it and looked at it carefully, embroidering a peony flower at each end.

Xu Maogong smiled: "Xu Mouse, this is not a sweet potato flower, this is a peony flower."

The next piece of black cloth is the black cloth that I used to cover my face with the sleeves of the housekeeper Xu Quan's coat when I met three people pulling two women on the way home.

Xu Maogong wrapped the blue cloth bag, handed it to Xu Mouse, and said, "Xu Mouse, you return the new masked scarf to Jia Xiaocui, the old masked scarf is your father's sleeve for your father."

Xu Mouse smiled: "Young master, the little one looks very good-looking, if someone gives it to you, you can accept it."

Xu Maogong said: "Xu Mouse, my mother said that you can't ask for this kind of thing that a girl has carefully embroidered."

Xu Mouse asked, "Young Master, I'm hungry, do you have meat buns here?"

Xu Maogong replied: "In the temple, there is no meat, how can there be meat buns?"

Xu Mouse said: "It's been half an hour since I arrived at Yicheng Temple, and my father said: Only the young master in Yicheng Temple has long hair, and I waited for half an hour for you to come out, I'm too hungry."

Xu Maogong replied, "I'll take you to Uncle Sun Anfu's house to eat meat buns."

Xu Maogong and Xu Rat, the two rode a horse and came to Sun Anfu's house, Xu Mouse knocked on the door, and an old servant came out.

Xu Maogong stepped forward and asked, "Is Uncle Sun Fu at home?"

The old servant replied: "Young Master Xu, I know you, the old man is not at home, the old lady is at home, Young Master Xu, please come in."

Xu Maogong, Xu Rat, followed the old servant into the main hall, and Father Sun sat in the middle.

Xu Maogong stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Hello Grandpa Sun."

Father Sun asked with a smile: "Xu Maogong, how are you doing in Yicheng Temple recently?"

Xu Maogong replied, "It's all good, thank you Grandpa Sun."

Xu Maogong pointed at Xu Mouse and said, "Grandpa Sun, my scholar, Xu Rat, came to send me something, I want to eat meat buns, but there is no one in the temple, so I have to go to the house to ask for trouble."

Father Sun smiled: "It's a trivial matter."

Father Sun instructed the housekeeper Sun Dayou to prepare meat buns for Xu Rat.

Xu Maogong said: "Grandpa Sun, in the afternoon, Master Huitong is going to teach me the art of war, and I am going back to the temple."

Father Sun said, "Let Sun Wu send Young Master Xu back to the temple."

Sun Wu rode a horse to send Xu Maogong back to Yicheng Temple.

Xu rat ate meat buns, fed the horse, said goodbye to Dad Sun, and rode back to Xu Gai's house on East Street in Lihu County.

On the third day of late autumn, Xu Gai sat in the main hall, drinking tea and reading a book, and the housekeeper Xu Quan came in to report: "Master, Mrs. Liu in the west of the city asks to see you."

Xu Gai asked, "Housekeeper, did she say anything?"

The housekeeper Xu Quan replied with a smile: "Master, she said that she was entrusted by someone to talk about the eldest young master."

Xu Gai said: "Housekeeper, you let her go to the main hall for tea, and I'll ask Mrs. if Mrs. entrusted her." After speaking, Xu Gai stood up and walked to the inner room.

Xu Gai entered the inner room and asked his wife: "Madam, Mrs. Liu from the west of the city is here, she said that she was entrusted by someone to talk about the eldest young master, are you dragging her?"

The lady replied: "My eldest young master is learning martial arts, and he is only thirteen years old, how can he go to the matchmaker as a wife?"

The lady continued, "Let's go out and have a look and hear what she has to say."

Xu Gai and Mrs. Xu came to the main hall, and Mrs. Liu was sitting on a chair drinking tea in the west of the city, and when she saw the two of them coming in, she immediately got up and smiled: "Say hello to Xu Yuanwai and Mrs. Xu."

After Xu Gai and Mrs. sat down, Mrs. smiled and said, "Sister Liu, please sit down and talk."

Mrs. Liu sat on a chair in Chengxi, took a sip of tea and said, "Xu Yuanwai, Mrs. Xu, I was entrusted by Mr. Jia from the private school to be a matchmaker for Master Xu Maogong and Miss Jia Ruhua."

Mrs. said with a smile: "Thanks to Mr. Jia of the private school, Sister Liu has worked hard to run, but my eldest son Xu Maogong is only thirteen years old, which is a good age to learn skills, and I will consider marriage in three or five years."