Mrs. Tu made up her mind, so she hurried to arrange the following things, and sent Xiangxiu to Xin'er to bring back some softness.

Xin'er wanted to shirk it, but Mrs. Tu repeatedly insisted that Xin'er must accept it. Xin'er was afraid that Mrs. Tu would not let her go to the top of the errand, so she had to take it back obediently.

When Xin'er returned home, the Hong family and his wife were really as Xin'er expected, even though they were reluctant, they were willing to agree to their daughter's decision, let her be careful in everything, and helped Xin'er pack her things.

That night, Hong Xin'er quietly moved into Tujia.

Thinking that Xin'er had settled herself, Mrs. Tu sent Xiangxiu to ask Xin'er to go to the room to talk. As soon as Xin'er entered Mrs. Tu's bedroom, Mrs. Tu sent Xiangxiu out.

Mrs. Tu let Xin'er go to the official hat chair on one side, turned around and took two brocade boxes from the secret compartment under the bed and put them on several cases, and looked at Xin'er: "Xin'er, do you know what is in this brocade box?" ”

Hong Xin'er didn't know, and shook her head: "Master, can I open it and take a look?" ”

Mrs. Tu nodded in agreement, and Hong Xin'er opened the two brocade boxes, one red and one black, one by one. But seeing that in the red brocade box was a piece of folded rice paper, Xin'er opened it and saw that there was a strange missing corner in an arc drawn on it, and the outer circle was still two lines.

Xin'er looked at the black brocade box again, and inside was a small mass of moss, which seemed to have been out of the soil for a long time, but it had not yet completely withered. Hong Xin'er has followed Tuhong since she was a child, and she has recognized a lot of flowers and trees, but she doesn't know what this moss is called.

Seeing that Xin'er's face was full of doubts, Mrs. Tu took the rice paper in Xin'er's hand and said slowly: "Xin'er, do you know that your master's death has a lot of doubts?" Outsiders say that he died by wheel martyrdom, but I canceled the system of wheel martyrdom before the three dynasties, and even if I want to be martyred by wheel, this time it should be the Mu family, not my Tu family. ”

Hearing this, Xin'er retracted her arm a little, and straightened up unconsciously: "Master, do you suspect that Master's death is related to the Mu family?" ”

Mrs. Tu took the black brocade box and sighed: "At first, I didn't suspect the Mu family. He also insisted that your master died of a heart palpitation attack. But although your master has been suffering from heartache for the past two years, it is not fatal. He knows how to maintain himself on weekdays, he has never drunk alcohol since he was sick, and he has always been healthy in the past, even Ming Langzhong in the West Market said that he could live for ten years and eight years. When he left, he also brought a lot of ginseng tablets from Ming Langzhong, so that he would not die so suddenly. When his body was brought back, I took out this handful of moss from his hand. From the imperial tomb to here, it will take more than half a month to say the least, and this moss has not yet withered, which is very suspicious. Although I don't know what the name of this moss is, I know that the Mu family is the best at planting exotic flowers and plants, how can I not be suspicious of other families? ”

Xin'er nodded, and looked at the rice paper again: "Master, what is the gap drawn on the paper?" ”

Mrs. Tu flattened the rice paper on several cases, pointed to the ink, and said, "I bought it from the hand of the handsome man for a lot of money." On the back of your master's head, I found a dented mark, just like a drawing on paper. But he judged that the mark was not fatal enough, and he was afraid of getting into trouble, so he kept quiet. He was also begged by me to stand it, so he drew this mark on me, I don't know what it is, but it must be inseparable from the death of your master. ”

When Xin'er heard this, she was indignant in her heart, and she couldn't wait to take the evidence of the Mu family's harm and give the master an explanation. She clenched her fists, kept those two things in mind, and replied: "Master, although I don't know what these are, but after I go on a mission, I will definitely be able to see the Mu family, why worry about not finding out the cause of Master's death?" I've written them down! You have been here for a few days, so settle in early. When I do the main thing, I will definitely let the master be able to look at it! ”

In the early morning of the next day, Mrs. Tu hurriedly arranged for Xin'er to dress. Wearing a light silk skirt and a cloak of the same color, it will not rush because of a white dress entering the palace. bumps, not too gorgeous, full of filial piety.

After breakfast, Xin'er went out of the house. She knelt down and bowed to Mrs. Tu three times: "Master, Xin'er is going now, don't worry." ”

Mrs. Tu bowed her head, but she didn't forget to tell again: "From today onwards, you will call yourself Ling. Long, call my mother in front of people, there is no room for mistakes, otherwise your life will be in danger. You have to pay attention to the head of the Mu family to see if your master's death is really related to his family. ”

"Ling. Long has made a note of it, Mother, please go back. Xin'er took on Mrs. Tu's words, and Mrs. Tu calmed down a little and sent the fake daughter out.

When he returned to the hall, Tufu heard the lazy parrot's words: "Fake, she is not Ling. Long, she's not Ling. Long, fake. ”

Mrs. Tu was shocked, and hurriedly ordered Xiangxiu to move the parrot to the back hall, and then returned to the backyard with confidence.

And outside the palace gate, Hong Xin'er called herself Tu Ling. Long, handed over the Tujia chief's waist card. The soldiers guarding the door looked her up and down, covered Xin'er's eyes with a black cloth, and called an inner supervisor to lead Xin'er to meet Master Wei.

Lord Wei, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, was waiting in the corner hall at this time for the Tujia to pick up. Banren, although he has already received the news, it will be the second daughter of the Tujia family who will come today. But seeing Xin'er's appearance, Lord Wei was still a little disappointed.

The inner supervisor helped Xin'er take off the black cloth, and Xin'er hurriedly made a big salute to Lord Wei: "Tuling, the second daughter of the Tujia family. Long, meet Lord Wei, I wish you all the blessings, and you will be happy for a long time. ”

Lord Wei looked at her watery eyes, thoughtful: This girl's face is full of intelligence, but this gardening and repairing a house, although it is difficult to build a garden, physical strength is also indispensable, and it is inconvenient for her daughter's family. I don't know if it's useful or not.

Master Wei has been pondering the way to reply to Xin'er, and there has been no movement for a long time. Xin'er didn't say much, so she knelt on the ground and didn't get up. In a daze, Master Wei's hand habitually pulled the black mole on the left side of his face, this time he was about distracted, and he didn't hold the strength well, and he "hissed" in pain and screamed.

Seeing this, Xin'er hurriedly got up to help: "Lord Wei, are you okay?" ”

"Good, good. Don't worry about small things. Ling. Long, how can you cultivate the imperial garden with a group of men? Is there really no one in the Tujia family? Master Wei relaxed about Xin'er and expressed his worries.

Xin'er nodded: "My younger brother is not yet an adult, and my eldest brother is far away, so I can only come." ”

"This ......" Lord Wei wanted to speak and stopped, paced in front of Xin'er's eyes with his hands behind his back a few times, and finally settled. Come on.

Master Wei sat back on the Taishi chair, swallowed his tea, and said, "Tujia girl, do you know that gardening is not trivial. The Imperial Garden has been damaged for a long time, and even the main hall has been burned down by the heavenly fire, and it will not be repaired overnight. Coming to the mud and going to the soil all day long is not as quiet as the embroidery and painting at home. ”

"Lord Wei, you can rest assured, Ling. Long suffered. ”

Master Wei touched his black mole again and raised his tone: "Light can endure hardships, there is no real craftsmanship, that is also a fist embroidered legs." I see that you are a slender woman, young and young, the French style of gardening, there are many categories, a man of your age, and the outstanding person is at most a craftsman. What are your skills to afford the principal's errand? ”

Hong Xin'er heard Lord Wei say this, and knew that he disliked himself as a woman. But there must be a precedent to follow in this arrangement, so he went sideways, wanted to gamble, and then asked: "Dare to ask Lord Wei, I have a great dynasty, but there is a precedent for women to be the main thing?" ”

"Before the Three Dynasties, there was a precedent, but it was a talent who was one in a million. How can you compare with your ancestors at such a young age? Not to be outdone, Lord Wei insisted on disliking Hong Xin'er.

"Ling. Whether Long has the skills or not, and how much ability he has, Lord Wei will know when he tries it. If Lord Wei tried Ling. Long, if he is a person who is not worthy of great responsibility, he will let Lord Wei fall. ”

Master Wei heard the little woman's words, and patted the few cases in front of him: "Okay, since you are confident that you have the ability to be in charge, do you dare to follow me to the Imperial Garden to show your hands?" ”

Xin'er arched her hand: "Ling. Long can't ask for it, so he should receive his orders. ”

Lord Wei was not ambiguous, and when he turned around, he ordered the attendants to go to the Imperial Garden in advance to prepare for the garden test.

The garden examination is a very special form of examination in the Daxing Dynasty, which is specially designed for craftsmen or low-level personnel of the Ministry of Industry, and has no connection with the imperial examination. This garden test is divided into many categories such as modeling, measurement, boundary painting, etc., which are examined by the craftsmen, and even Lord Wei is not allowed to interfere in the examination questions, but can only judge.

Since most of the craftsmen are apprentices with masters, the craftsmanship will not be too bad, and when they become adults, they will be recommended by the master to work, and the position of the chief has become a hereditary system, so this garden test has not been opened for many years. The most difficult thing in the rumors is the boundary painting, which cannot be done without years of hard work and ingenuity to dominate the overall situation. Many low-level craftsmen don't understand these things at all, and can only look at them but not draw them.

When Xin'er and Lord Wei walked to the Imperial Garden, several craftsmen over the age of thirty were already waiting on both sides of the pavilion. When they saw that it was a girl who came to take the exam, they couldn't stop laughing, and they didn't even bother to arrange the lottery, and directly threw out the topic of "boundary painting" for Xin'er.

Lord Wei took the question paper and looked at it, the title on the paper can be described as difficult to climb to the sky: based on the Ivy Spring Pavilion, for the emperor and queen to come here to eat, and to ensure that the dishes are not cold in the spring, the cloth is convenient, how to paint?

After reading it, Master Wei just shook his head, he had no idea of his own. But seeing that Xin'er's face was still as pale as ever, she took off her cloak and put it on the stone bench on the side, and slowly opened her mouth: "There is only pen and ink in this room, which big brother can help me take down the moment and the scale?" ”

The craftsmen next to them were all waiting to see this girl out of trouble, but after humming a few times, naturally no one moved.

Xin'er has been in the market for many years, how can she not know everyone's thoughts? She didn't panic when she saw the rulerless lead, and bit the sleeve of the skirt with her tiger teeth, and pulled out a hole, revealing her thin white wrist.

Lord Wei was really startled when he saw Xin'er's action, this girl is too unruly, she doesn't have a class ruler, she exposes her skin in public, what kind of body is it? Lord Wei hurriedly said, "What are you doing?" Don't make a mistake! ”

Xin'er understood Lord Wei's reaction at this time, and said with a slight smile: "Lord Wei, don't worry, have you heard of cotton silk leads?" ”