Seeing everyone away, Li Mao closed the courtyard door, although he didn't drink much wine, his cheeks were hot, and his body was hot.

In the courtyard, by the faint light of the lamps and candles, Li Mao re-examined the Qinniang who was busy in the main hall: although she is not very old, her breasts and buttocks have been exposed, although her waist is only full of hands, but there is no feeling of weakness, her skin is not white, but it is very clean, and her facial features are not too delicate, but they are very attractive.

In a word, Li Mao is twelve points satisfied with this little concubine he picked up.

It's just that...... Is this true, the busy little beauty under the lamp really belongs to herself?

I used to read books, and I roughly knew that the status of concubines in ancient times was low, especially before the Song Dynasty, and in the Tang Dynasty, concubines were lowly and could not be regarded as a complete person in the legal sense, so that the dignified Tang Dynasty code also openly listed slaves and maids, concubines, cattle and horses, granges and other properties alongside, and classified them as the master's private property, which could be given away and bought and sold at will.

Thinking about this, Li Mao felt a little better, he saved Xue Rong, as a thank you, the Xue family can give him gold and silver, horses, and a grange, so it is not strange to give a maid as a concubine, the custom is like this.

Li Mao rubbed his face vigorously and walked into his "home", walking calmly and naturally.

After cleaning up the dishes in the lobby, Qin Niang called hot water to serve Li Mao to wash, seeing her kneeling on the cold green bricks, Li Mao felt very unbearable, but he also knew that it was not easy to persuade Qin Niang to get up, and what he could help her now was to cooperate with her as much as possible.

After washing, Li Mao went to bed, Qin Niang washed herself cleanly, stood on the edge of the bed with her head down, hung her head, and looked shy.

Concubine, low status, if there is no master to summon her, she is not qualified to go to bed, Li Mao was entangled in his heart for a moment, but he still hardened his heart and said: "I drank too much wine tonight, I am dizzy, you, you don't have to serve." ”

After speaking, he closed his eyes, and he didn't close his eyes for three days and three nights, and as soon as his head touched the pillow, he snored.

After breakfast on the second day, Xue Rong and Xue Fang invited Li Mao to Baoding County to meet with Zhu Ming, the county commander. Zhu Ming and Xue Rong met and intersected during their study tour in Chang'an and became close friends. Zhu Ming was fascinated by officialdom, and won the Zhongjin Shishi for five consecutive years, and went to the secretary province to become a school secretary. Xue Rong has a weak temperament, and after falling off the list, he left Beijing to travel around, enjoy the beautiful rivers and mountains, and make friends all over the world.

In the past few years, Zhu Ming's career has been smooth, from the school secretary to the county lieutenant, promoted to the county cheng, and made the county order of Baoding County.

Xue Rong met Cui Shen, the son-in-law of Lu Qun, the envoy of Yicheng Jiedu, and was hired as the inspector of the Yicheng Observation Shogunate by his recommendation, in any year, Lu Qun died of illness, and before his death, he recommended it to Li Shigu, the envoy of Ziqing Jiedu, which coincided with the vacancy of Chengwu County, Li Shigu then played as Chengwu County, Shang Enzhuo, entered Beijing in June, and returned to his hometown to settle his parents and wife for two months, Xue Rong now only waited for the end of the holiday to Chengwu to take office.

Former classmates and friends took two completely different paths, and after turning around, they went the same way, and they couldn't help but sigh when they saw each other.

Laid down the feast for a while, Zhu Ming invited a few staff members and famous Confucian students in the city to accompany each other, the guest and the host pushed the cup to change the lamp, they were happy, the banquet was dark, the Qing guests and Confucian students got up to say goodbye, Zhu Ming accompanied the Xue brothers and Li Mao to the county back garden to sober up, when the end of autumn, the flowers withered, the evening breeze blew on the face, very useful. Zhu Ming sighed with the strength of the wine, and said to Xue Rong: "My brother is so carefree to serve in the shogunate, why bother to be this pro-people official, the hard work is really indescribable!" ”

Xue Rong sighed and said, "Lu Gong is recommended on the sickbed, how can Rong refuse?" Yun Shuai's grace, wanting to resign and fearing disrespect, his younger brother will take office for a year and a half, and then submit his resignation. ”

Zhu Ming shook his head and sighed: "I'm afraid that it will be difficult for you to get out if you go, Ziqing is not as good as the river." ”

Xue Rong's face suddenly turned black when he heard this, his throat seemed to be pinched, and he couldn't speak with his mouth open. Li Mao once heard Xue Fang say that Ziqing was adjacent to Hebei Jiaofan, and the predecessor Jiedu made Li Na arrogant and arrogant, and rebelled against the imperial court several times. In the third year of Jianzhong, Zhu Tao was made by Youzhou Jiedu, Tian Yue was made by Wei Bojiedu, and Wang Wujun was made by Wang Wujun to make an alliance with his blood, and he made an appointment to be called the king. The current Jiedu envoy Li Shigu has always had great ambitions, and he disobeyed the yang and yin of the imperial court, and there were many filthy things with neighboring towns, and it was undoubtedly a chore to be an official under his rule.

Seeing Xue Rong, who had always been steady, so out of shape, Li Mao's heart became heavy unconsciously.

After ten days of traveling, the three of them returned to Xuejiazhuang, and Li Mao gained a lot from this trip, not only broadening his horizons, increasing his knowledge, but also an unexpected gain.

When Qin Niang saw Li Mao coming back, she was full of joy, and quickly boiled hot water with her hands and feet to serve him to wash. The noon sun is very abundant, Li Mao once again looked at this little girl seriously, the more he looked at it, the more he was happy, the little woman was not only delicate, but also very hard-working, willing to do things and very efficient, the house was spotless inside and out, and the house was cleaned up refreshingly.

She is dressed very plainly, a set of washed white coarse cloth green shirt, the skirt corners and cuffs are very narrow, and the breast, waist and hips set off are clearly layered, which is pleasing to the eye. Although it is already winter, she still often rolls up her sleeves to work, and the whole person is a mess of spirit, as if she will never have the strength to end.

Seeing that her busy feet did not touch the ground, Li Mao beckoned: "You sit down and take a breath first." Qin Niang answered, went out with a basin of water, washed her hands and face, slid into the house sideways, stood in front of Li Mao with her hands forked, lowered her head, and did not speak.

Li Mao pointed to a cloth bag on the table and said, "Open it and take a look." ”

Qin Niang was stunned for a moment, timidly walked to the table, slowly opened the cloth bag, and suddenly stepped back in surprise, as if there was a poisonous snake coiled in the bag, she shook her head again and again and said: "I can't ask for this, it's too precious." "In the cloth bag is a pair of gold and silver heads, a pair of gilt comb grates, a golden phoenix and a green step, two gold hairpins, a jade hairpin and a silver hairpin.

Zhu Ming gave Li Mao a reward of ten yuan in the name of rewarding the righteous man, Li Mao took out three yuan to thank Qiao Wu and others, and took out two yuan to buy some gifts for the old lady and Wei Shi to show his gratitude.

He handed over the remaining five pieces of money to Qin Niang before going out, and asked her to buy two pieces of cloth to wear, Qin Niang took the usual money for him to take on the road, and the rest was all collected, and he was not willing to spend anything.

Li Mao picked up a golden hairpin and a silver grate, and said, "This is what I bought for you." Put it away. He pointed to the rest of the jewelry and said, "Zhu Mingfu gave Da Lang ten times to entangle, and Da Lang thought it was cumbersome, so he let me exchange it for gold and silver in the city." The gold and silver ingots were not easy to start with, so they replaced them with these jewelry, who expected them to look down on them, they were too stupid, and they insisted on refusing to ask for them. I asked Qingmo to give it to my wife, Qingmo persuaded me not to beg for disgust, but I had no choice but to take it back, you can keep it for me, and I will have a chance to return it to others in the future. Ten dollars is not a small amount. ”

Saying this, Qin Niang smiled, she took the gold and silver grate that Li Mao bought for her, held it in the palm of her hand, the baby was amazing, and she lowered her head and smiled: "Qingmo is right, people like them are not rare such stupid things." Madame, a hairpin is worth a hundred and ten times. These things may not be seen by the mothers-in-law and big girls around her. He said and said: "Let's collect it for them, gather less into more, and in the future, we will melt the golden Buddha and present it to the old lady." ”

Li Mao sighed and said, "It's only to blame that poor people like me really don't understand the life of nobles." He asked again: "How much salary can you get in the Xue family every month?" Qin Niang was storing jewelry, and when she heard this, she pursed her lips and smiled: "It's really a dumb monk, I am a slave of the Xue family, how can a slave and maid be paid?" Food, clothing, housing and transportation are all given by the public, there are twenty dollars per month, the old lady and Mrs. will reward some during the New Year's holidays, and the mother-in-law who does a good job will reward three dollars and five dollars, but there is not much money left. I only had pocket money when I was sixteen or ten years old this year, three wen a month, and then it increased year by year, and my money was considered to be the top saving, and there were only nine hundred and sixty-seven wen left in the past few years, which was not consistent. ”

Li Mao said: "After I go to Caozhou, I have a salary to get, and my life will gradually get better." ”

Qin Niang said: "With a salary and a lot of entertainment, how much money can I take home?" After a pause, he said: "After I arrive in Caozhou, I want to go over to serve my wife, and I can have 1,500 yuan a month." ”

Li Mao interrupted her: "If it's just for money, don't go." Da Lang is the county honor, no matter how mixed I am, I will never be able to support you, so why should you suffer from that burden. ”

Qin Niang bit her lip and didn't say anything.