The gardenia, as pure as snow, blooms quietly among the green leaves, and the tender yellow stamens look a little abrupt in the white, but they perfectly blend into its holy body. The sky fell like a line of summer rain, and every petal soaked in it was dazzling, as if it was more energetic, and the fragrance of flowers did not hide due to the untimely arrival of the rain, but still poured out without reservation. Ling Xiao didn't hold an umbrella, standing in the rain curtain in front of the flowers, slowly stretched out her hand, picked a fragrant flower, the water droplets on the flower branches instantly naughtily drilled into the sleeve, the slight coolness is indescribably wonderful, her hands were all wet, but she didn't care at all, and then picked a few more. Under the pear tree in the courtyard, Lu Ci was holding an oil-paper umbrella and watching the two subordinates climb the wooden ladder and pick pears in an orderly manner. The crystal night drops on the branches dripped mercilessly on the two people's robes and hats again and again with each pear leaving, just like a mother who had lost her child could only punish those who separated them with tears.

Ling Xiao was not in a hurry to enter the house, the rain fell on the light dress, a kind of coolness was very refreshing, now she already liked to be immersed in the rain, the bouquet in her hand accompanied her to quietly look at the scene in the rain curtain, and slowly stayed.

"Are you alright? Get drenched in the rain like this, and be careful of getting sick. Seeing that Ling Xiao had not moved in the rain for a long time, Lu Ci walked over and gave Ling Xiao his umbrella.

"Don't you think that's pleasant?" Ling Xiao didn't take his umbrella.

"Why do you say the same thing as the mansion master."

"That's what he made me feel."

"Two weirdos. All I know is that if you get drenched a little longer, you'll probably get sick. If you hurt a single hair, and the lord of the house comes back, it will be difficult to explain. He gave Ling Xiao a helpless look.

"I'm not that delicate. You are busy with your own business. ”

It began to rain in the early hours of last night, and there was just a bush of plantain outside the clinical window. Ling Xiao never thought that Lu Ci really did what he said, braving the rain to call someone to pick pears, Ling Xiao thought that if she was the two people who picked pears, she would scold Lu Ci thousands of times in her heart.

"You'd better go into the house, it's really susceptible to the cold." Lu Ci persuaded again.

Ling Xiao didn't argue with him, turned around and walked towards the house. Halfway through, as if thinking of something, he turned his head and said to Lu Ci through the rain curtain: "Can you help me find an embroidery frame?" Ling Xiao thought that she didn't know when she would be able to learn martial arts, so she suddenly thought of embroidery again.

"Okay, I'll have someone bring it to you in the afternoon." Ling Xiao's voice was intertwined with the sound of the rain, but because the distance was not far, Ling Xiao could hear it clearly.

Pearl-like raindrops fell from the eaves on the bluestone slab, looking along the eaves, like a naturally hanging bead curtain, Ling Xiao stood on the wooden steps and took off the slightly wet shoes on his feet, and walked into the house. She found a jade bottle, carefully inserted the freshly plucked gardenia into it, and placed it on the flower table against the wall. Smell a deep fragrance, listen to the sound of rain outside the window, on the case is a delicate inkstone, jet black ink, Ling Xiao wrote in his hand is Juanxiu Xiaokai, not a small seal, after writing it will be torn, no one will see it.

Rainy weather always makes people feel calm, and three or four hours pass by in the blink of an eye. In the afternoon, Lu Ci ordered someone to send the embroidery frame and its embroidery supplies, and put them in front of the window, and the flowers outside the window were full of flowers, delicate and delicate under the moisture of the rain, and countless large and small raindrops were attached to the petals, wanting to break free and with nostalgia.

Ling Xiao sat in front of the embroidery frame, stared through the carved window for a moment, and finally slowly withdrew his eyes, and put his gaze on the clean Bai Juan, and his fingers lightly swiped over it, which was a silky feeling. The needle and thread were already pinched between her fingers, and she only had to aim at the pinhole and thread to make the needle and thread merge, but she hesitated a little and thought about what to embroider. A burst of gardenia fragrance wafted in, and she instantly understood, why not embroider this gardenia into Baijuan.

The silk threads shuttled back and forth between Bai Juan, and outside the window was the sound of the rain hitting the leaves, all of which were harmonious and calm, and occasionally a trace of wind and drizzle fell on Ling Xiao's cheeks, and she could only sigh that the wind was as strange as a child.

Petal after petal took shape on Bai Juan, and the dusk in the rain always came earlier than usual, just like a girl who was afraid of loneliness and needed to be accompanied. The sky was dark, the house was dark, and even the flowers that had taken shape on Bai Juan were darkened. Ling Xiao had only completed a leafless flower after an afternoon's busy work, and she finally put down the fine needle in her hand and carefully pinned it to the corner of Bai Juan.

She walked out of the room and looked at the bead curtain between the eaves, which was still the same, unchanged. The pear blossom tree in the rain curtain was hazy, there was no pear on the tree, the swing under the tree was constantly dripping water droplets along the edge, and occasionally one or two birdsong came from the depths of the branches, Ling Xiao thought that the feathers of the birds had already been soaked at this moment, and he didn't know if they were cold or not.

She leaned against the door for a long time, until the sky was dark and she could only see her fingers faintly, and then she entered the house. There was a faint light reflected on the floor, she closed the door, didn't light the lamp, walked straight to the bed and sat down, enjoying the darkness, after a long time, she felt the flute next to the pillow and blew it, although it could only make a monotonous sound, but after practice, Ling Xiao's breath was now stable, and her fingers were more flexible.

The rain stopped after falling for three days, and then Ling Xiao watched the petals on Bai Juan increase day by day, and finally embroidered it, Ling Xiao calculated the days slightly, Lu Jingxing had been away for half a month.

Ling Xiao learned to cook when she was in the wooden house, but the taste was not very good, and now that she has nothing to do, she went to the kitchen to learn to cook with Yu Niang. Ling Xiao walked into the kitchen and saw Yu Niang preparing ingredients with another old woman in the kitchen, so he said what he meant: "Yu Niang, how about you teach me to cook?" ”

"Want to learn how to cook?" Yu Niang was a little surprised.

"Yes, I will have to live alone in the future, how can I not cook." Ling Xiao told the truth, she didn't want to stay in Lu Mansion all the time to eat and drink for nothing, and when she learned martial arts, she would leave here, as for the favor owed to Lu Jingxing, she thought that there would always be a chance to pay it back.

"What are you talking about, the lord of the mansion will not leave you alone, you have our Lu Mansion family, how can you be alone!" The old woman said.

"Yes, Murmur, do you want to leave the Lu Mansion?" Yu Niang looked at Ling Xiao.

"I owe a lot to Lu Fu, but I don't want to live here for nothing all the time, people always have to be self-reliant." Ling Xiao expressed his opinion.

"Murmuring, you are not a woman in the rivers and lakes, why should you be so strong, ordinary women are born to rely on men to live." Yu Niang's point of view is the opinion of all ancient women, it has been deeply ingrained for thousands of years, Ling Xiao can understand her, but it is really impossible for her to do this.

"Then I just want to learn to cook, Yu Niang, can you teach me?" Ling Xiao didn't want to argue with Yu Niang and the others about these things, they wouldn't understand.

"Since you want to learn, then of course I'm willing to teach." Yu Niang said with a smile.

The oil crackled in the pot, and Ling Xiao felt a drum in his heart, and poured the washed vegetables into the pot like Yu Niang, and splashed violently in an instant, she did not flinch, took the spatula and quickly stir-fried, and then added the condiments in turn according to Yu Niang's words, and a trace of vegetable fragrance floated out, but I don't know how it tasted.

Ling Xiao stir-fried several times, and finally this dish came out of the pot smoothly, she couldn't wait to pick up the chopsticks and taste it, but the result was still as unpalatable as ever, she didn't know what was wrong, she did what Yu Niang said, Yu Niang was also watching, but for some reason it was still so difficult to swallow.

"It tastes weird." Ling Xiao said to Yu Niang.

"It's the first time I do it, so it's good to practice more." Yu Niang picked up the chopsticks and tasted a little.

Ling Xiao felt that Yu Niang's words were very reasonable, and she should practice more, and at this moment she was in high spirits and continued to be busy. In this way, she spent most of the day in the kitchen, stir-frying more than a dozen unknown vegetarian dishes, and finally she was a little tired, and the kitchen was handed over to Yu Niang, Ling Xiao thought that this dish must be inedible, and she didn't know what to do with it.

"The lord of the mansion is back, do you want to go to the study?" Ling Xiao walked in the corridor and met Lu Ci.

"I'll go back and change my clothes." Covered with the smell of oil smoke, Ling Xiao felt that it would be too rude to go like this.

Ling Xiao didn't know how the murder case was investigated, she went back to the house to change her clothes, then bypassed the rockery, walked through the corridor, and went to Lu Jingxing's study.

Lu Jingxing was picking up a pen and writing something on the paper at the moment, and Ling Xiao walked over: "Is it smooth?" ”

"I didn't find a clue. How have the past few days been? Lu Jingxing paused and looked up at Ling Xiao, but Ling Xiao saw that he looked a little tired, it should be caused by a long journey.

"It's going well. Don't you continue to check? Ling Xiao didn't really care about this, he was just a little frightened, so many people were killed, but he couldn't find any clues.

"The investigation is definitely going to be investigated, I have sent people from the mansion to assist, this time it is not simple, the death of the Liu Mansion and the owner of Liu Zhuang is not the same person from the details." Lu Jingxing said without a trace of waves, as if he had long been accustomed to such things.

"This kind of thing often happens in the rivers and lakes?" In Ling Xiao's view, the affairs of the rivers and lakes are far from being as simple as he thought.

"Buying murder is common, but it's rare to be wiped out." A trace of wind blew in from the window, blowing up Lu Jingxing's hair draped on his back, and he suddenly had a feeling of elegance.

"How's the flute practicing?" Ling Xiao was pulled back to her senses by his question, her face suddenly became hot, she blamed this wind in her heart, if it wasn't for this wind, she felt that she would not have stared at Lu Jingxing and forgot to retract her gaze.

Ling Xiao lowered his head a little embarrassed: "I'm just waiting for you to explain the next step to me." ”

"It's time to eat." When Ling Xiao was most embarrassed, a savior appeared, and Ling Xiao felt that Lu Xiao's resignation was really timely. The subordinate followed Lu Ci, and then placed the dishes in his hand on the desk in turn.

As the number of dishes on the table gradually increased, the more Ling Xiao looked at it, the more wrong it became, the familiar dishes she didn't care about, and the things she made still had a reflection. Ling Xiao was wondering if they served the wrong dish, she didn't know how Yu Niang and the others did it, she obviously asked Yu Niang to dispose of it before leaving, how could there be such an accident, Ling Xiao felt that this time it was a shame to throw it home. She watched Lu Jingxing pick up a dish with chopsticks and put it in her mouth and chew it carefully, without showing any unusual expression, Ling Xiao couldn't believe her eyes, she began to suspect that this was not the dish she cooked. When she was about to try it, she saw Lu Ci show an ugly expression: "What's wrong with Yu Niang, why is the food made today so unpalatable!" Lu Jingxing glanced at him, didn't say anything, and ate calmly.

Ling Xiao didn't know what to say, but he still opened his mouth: "I made this dish, and it is estimated that they served it wrong." ”

"You did it?" Lu Ci was so shocked that both eyes were about to pop out.

"I just wanted to learn how to cook, but I didn't expect it to happen." Ling Xiao explained.

"It's good to learn what to cook, forget it, it's all here, let's eat." Lu Ci sighed.

Ling Xiao also felt that it was difficult to eat, but watching the two of them eat, she had no reason to dislike the dishes she made, so she picked up the chopsticks and ate them.

This was the most embarrassing meal she had ever eaten, and it was difficult to end it, and she was thinking about going to the kitchen to see what was going on, with such a big appearance, she felt that it was enough for Lu Ci to laugh at her for a year.

"I'll go first, let's go to the kitchen." Ling Xiao stood up.

"Did you bring the flute? I just have time to explain to you the relationship between fingering and the pentatonic tone. As soon as Ling Xiao took two steps, Lu Jingxing's words sounded behind him.

"Nope." Ling Xiao turned his head in response.

"Go get it, I'll be waiting for you here." Lu Jingxing's tone was flat. Ling Xiao thought that he couldn't go to the kitchen at the moment, and he would ask Yu Niang tomorrow.