Qi Su Niang took the deed of sale, leaned on the edge of the bed, and her mouth was dry. When she watched Li Quan'er talk and act in the poplar forest, she already knew that he was extremely shrewd. If there is a servant, there is a master, and the eighth elder brother's means are only higher, so he has been cautious, just afraid that they will find out that she is a fugitive slave. These **** checked with the eighth elder brother from time to time, only to feel that he had no unusual intentions for her, and secretly mocked himself for being a thief. No matter how powerful Li Quan'er is, she has never taken a frontal photo with her at the beginning, is it possible to recognize all the thirty or so children? is to admit it all, is it possible to know that she escaped in the first place? Now that I see this deed of sale, I know that I don't know when the details of my family will be found out!

This deed of sale was supposed to be in the hands of Jiao Qi in Beijing City, but it was in the hands of Chen Yan in a few days. When Qi Su Niang thought of this, she was terrified in her heart, and she became more and more afraid of Eighth Elder Brother and Li Quan'er. She thought about it, since the eighth elder brother handed over the deed of sale to Chen Yan, he showed his kindness to Chen, and he had nothing to do with her. What is his intention to entrap Chen Yan like this, but it makes her puzzled.

If it is said that it is to save her from mentioning Li Quaner's past of buying the population, it is even more impossible. At the beginning, the human tooth stole the things given by the emperor, and it was impossible to escape the death penalty. It is also a legal principle for officials to buy people, and there are no flaws. Even Li Quan'er poured his hand from it, and it was not a big deal. Except for the dead Chen Niangzi, the Qi family and the living Chen Yan, the rest of the people thought that she was a girl bought by Chen Niangzi, and they didn't know that she was a fugitive slave, so where did she have anything to do with the eighth elder brother? Thinking of this, Qi Su Niang smiled bitterly, but she couldn't figure out the intentions of this eighth elder brother, so she had to think that this move was because he was too careful.

Qi Su Niang put aside her worries and suspicions for the time being, looked at the name of Wen Su Niang on the deed of sale, and the red palm print pressed by Wen Su Niang's father or mother, and sighed slightly. After she fled, she was worried about this matter every day, and when she saw the deed of sale in her hand, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, only to feel that she had finally settled a matter on her mind, and from now on she would no longer have to rely on the Chen and Qi families, and be a fugitive slave who did not dare to see the light of day. At the beginning, Xiao Cui didn't know her real surname, and she didn't care, she followed the old surname in her previous life, but fortunately, she was a woman under the name of the Qi couple, and changed her surname to Qi, so that others would not suspect it.

After a few days, the boat traveled to Gaojiayan, Qinghe County, and Kangxi got off the boat and landed. He led the prince and his ministers to walk on foot on the embankment of the Baili Gaojia weir to survey the water-shaped landforms and record them one by one. When he returned to the ship at night, he summoned the princes and ministers who were proficient in arithmetic, and calculated in detail, so that he stayed up all night and forgot to sleep and eat.

Qi Su Niang saw that everyone was busy with river work, and when she returned to the boat every day, her boots and feet and the hem of her clothes were covered with mud, and she was extremely tired. The emperor and elder brother have their own palace people waiting to change and wash, and the ministers and guards also brought their entourage, so she did not avoid suspicion, and entered Chen Yan's room every day to fetch water, deliver food, laundry, and make shoes to take care of Chen Yan.

When Gaojiayan tasted danger, when it was critical, there was a danger of collapse for thousands of miles. If something happens, the royal ship will inevitably capsize, not to mention the prince's ministers, even Qi Suniang is also afraid. With the depth of her fear of the flood, if it weren't for the son of Mrs. Chen here, or the emperor here, she would have dared to find an opportunity to escape. Now it can only hold on.

Kangxi ignored everyone's pleadings, and only said: "If you want to avoid this risk, you can only get the actual evidence early, and I will inspect during the day and check at night, which is the way to seek stability and speed." "This is under the rule of the Governor of Liangjiang, Zhang Pengxi is like an abyss every day, and a few strands of gray hair have been added in a few days.

Qi Su Niang saw that Kangxi and others were so attentive to the river, and thought hard for a long time, taking advantage of Chen Yan's fatigue from returning to the boat every day, rushed to his room and waited for him to change clothes, eat, and burn his feet, and talked to him about the art of calculation.

Chen Yanduo talked to her halfway, suddenly screamed, rushed to Kangxi's bedroom barefoot, pointed fingers, and hurriedly said what was wrong. Kangxi was also burning his feet every time, and when he heard this, he also got up on his feet, and he didn't care about eating, so he called everyone to discuss.

After a few times like this, from the emperor to the courtiers, they patrolled the muddy and rugged river embankment during the day, and returned to the boat in the evening to burn their feet while eating, lest Chen Yan suddenly have a flash of inspiration and have no time to eat. Qi Su Niang acted like this, except for Chen Yanzi, no one knew. She just decided that Chen Yan was concentrating on river work now, and she couldn't take care of eating and sleeping, so she was as careful as Chen Niangzi, and she couldn't pay attention to everything and everywhere like Chen Niangzi. Moreover, she studied arithmetic with Mei Wending every day, and he had to look at her differently, so she was not afraid of Chen Yan seeing that she was making too fast progress in arithmetic.

A few days later, one afternoon, Qi Su Niang went to the back of the boat to get water to wash the laundry, while talking and laughing with the elder brother's pulp washing master, and suddenly heard someone strange: "Why did the fourteenth master come back?" ”

Before he could speak, he saw that the fourteenth elder brother's side, Haha, Haha, and the palace maids rushed to the barge to welcome the fourteenth elder brother on board.

Qi Su Niang looked at the back of the boat, and saw that the fourteenth elder brother had taken off the five-clawed golden dragon coat of the four regiments of Shiqing outside, and he didn't know what he had wrapped in a big ball, covered with mud and sand, and hurriedly got on the boat with a happy and excited face, and walked towards the cabin.

Fu Yourong, the personal eunuch who followed the fourteenth elder brother ashore, chased after the fourteenth elder brother. The fourteenth elder brother is only eleven years old, and he is half a head shorter than Qi Su Niang. Fu Yourong looked at the fifteen or sixteen years old, a cut taller than the fourteenth elder brother, he bent over, and said with a careful smile: "Fourteenth master, since you are on the boat, give this sand and soil to the minions, and the minions will give you a change of clothes so as not to catch a cold." ”

"Get out of the way, I don't have to ask the master to kick you again!"

Qi Su Niang saw that Fu Yourong looked aggrieved, with two black boot prints on his body, thinking that he had annoyed the fourteenth elder brother on the shore because of this incident, but she couldn't help but say it, she still cried and whispered with a sad face: "Master, you went back to the ship, and you didn't report to the emperor, if you ......"

I only heard a sound of "bang-" on the ground, and the fourteenth elder brother closed the door of Fu Yourong and other eunuchs and palace maids, and heard a "bang-" sound, and there was a sound of sand piled up on the table from the door.

Fu Yourong hurriedly and panicked at the door of the cabin for a long time, suddenly walked a certain step, turned to a few little eunuchs beside him and said: "After a while, listen to the movement, send hot water and hot tea in, and ask the fourteenth master to take a bath and change his clothes to warm his body." If it's for fear of beating, scolding, and laziness, I can't spare you when I come back! After a pause, he said, "If the master asks, he will say that I will go to the shore to find the eighth master." "Then he hurried away.

Qi Su Niang smacked her tongue, the emperor was very fond of the princes on the ship, especially the eighth elder brother and the thirteenth elder brother. The fourteenth elder brother is not the most sharp, but he looks like he has a big idea. The emperor is so diligent in governing the river, and the elder brothers are anxious about the emperor's father's urgency, and they work tirelessly every day to patrol the river and check the embankment. Only the fourteenth elder brother dared to go his own way, and he couldn't help but be secretly rare.

The laundry palace ladies talked a lot, they were all worried that the emperor would come back and attack the eleven-year-old little prince, but they didn't expect the emperor to come back, but they went around the fourteenth elder brother's room and didn't say a word. Since then, the fourteenth elder brother has only been careful about the topography of the mountains and rivers when he goes ashore every day, and when he returns to the ship, he will return to his own cabin to make a sand table. Later, even the shore was not climbed, and the embankment was not patrolled, but only the sand table was made in the house. Kangxi was not angry, and he did his own thing wholeheartedly.

Because Qi Su Niang is a woman, Kangxi did not pass her to travel together, in addition to making shoes and laundry for Chen Yan every day, and learning arithmetic from Mei Wending, she checked by herself. She is familiar with all kinds of formulas, and the power of calculation alone may not be able to reach everyone in one place. But for such a major event as the diversion of the Yellow River, the Huai River and the Cao River must be calculated, and there is no computer simulation, is it easy for her to do it alone? In the end, I really couldn't talk about it on paper, I saw the sand table of the fourteenth elder brother, thinking about the water-shaped mud mold in Chen Yan's room, so I took Chen Yan to take soil on the shore, and built a river model in the house, which was not only convenient for myself, but also could help Chen Yan and them without revealing flaws.

Although the wet soil on the shore is easy to shape, but it is difficult to last, April is the rainy season, there is not much time to get the sun, Qi Su Niang waited for everyone to leave the boat, saw that there was a sunny picture in the sky, and took the model out of the house. The masters were not on the boat, everyone was lazy, and the rules were looser, so she took the opportunity to go upstairs to the roof of the boat and take advantage of the sun to take shape.

The sun shines directly on the starboard side, and the sunlight is sometimes strong and sometimes weak as the clouds move. Qi Su Niang put the clay mold on the side of the ship's gangway, held it with her hands, and chased the sun from time to time to change the position of the clay mold. She was busy when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her, and when she turned her head, it was the fourteenth elder brother wearing a stone blue five-dragon prince crown robe, holding a small sand table with both hands, step by step on the top of the boat, and stopped on the starboard passage.

Because of the heavy clay mold, Qi Su Niang had to hold the clay mold with one hand in a hurry, and turned around to salute him, feeling worried. The fourteenth elder brother was stunned for a moment, glanced at the model in her hand, and showed hesitation.

Qi Su Niang also hesitated, or avoided it, this model can't be exposed, or if it is not avoided, it is even worse. She looked at the back cabin and was about to take the model away, but the fourteenth elder brother turned around and walked towards the back cabin on the top of the boat.

Qi Su Niang couldn't help but be stunned when she saw that the little prince actually gave up a piece of land for her to dry the clay mold. She didn't know whether to salute and thank her, and the fourteenth elder brother had already walked to the back cabin to dry his sand table. There is also sunlight on the starboard side of the aft cabin of the building, although it is not as good as the forward deck, but it is also a place to go. The top of the imperial boat is more than ten zhang long, Qi Su Niang and the fourteenth elder brother each stand at one end, and no one disturbs each other on the top of the boat except for the two of them.

Qi Su Niang settled down and carefully trimmed the mud shape with a bronze hairpin, and one stop was more than half an hour. When the sun gradually faded behind the clouds, she raised her slightly sour neck, and inadvertently looked sideways, and saw the fourteenth elder brother with his head down, frowning, pursing his lips, and trimming the silhouette of the sand table with a dragon-patterned gold dagger. Qi Su Niang smiled slightly, and when she saw that the thin clouds were gradually dissipating, she lowered her head again and hurriedly drove away.

I don't know how long it took, Qi Su Niang's right hand holding the mud mold was already sore, and the tip of the copper hairpin in her left hand was already full of mud. She was about to raise her hand to shake off the copper hairpin, when she suddenly heard Fu Yourong's soft voice about to drip from the back cabin: "Master, it's been two hours, the sun has gone down early, this thing is heavy, the slave will carry it down for you......"

Qi Su Niang raised her eyes when she heard the voice, and just as she saw Fu Yourong's hand touching the sand table on the side of the ship, she heard the fourteenth elder brother roar: "Don't touch it!" As he spoke, he kicked over, Rao was only eleven years old, and he also kicked Fu Yourong to the ground, followed by a burst of shouting and scolding, making a lot of trouble.

Qi Su Niang was bluffed, where did she dare to stay any longer, hurriedly collected the mud mold, and secretly slipped down the gangway of the front cabin, especially hearing Fu Yourong's voice of mercy: "Fourteenth master, the slave should die!" The minions are troublesome! The slave is looking at the master and is about to lose his ......"

From then on, Qi Su Niang didn't dare to go upstairs to the top of the boat, for fear that the fourteenth elder brother would hurt her pond fish when he was angry next time, so she only reluctantly basked in the window of her own cabin. The fourteenth elder brother had to go to the back deck of the ship to dry the sand table on a sunny day, and he did it himself, standing for two or three hours without moving the nest, which was very attentive. After a few days like this, Qi Su Niangfang vaguely understood why Kangxi didn't think that he didn't care about the people's difficulties, and only cared about his own preferences. But she didn't dare to forget his bad temper and the master's style of beating and scolding the slave at any time, and she still didn't dare to go to the roof.

The sun had not yet set, but it had dimmed because of the wide passage separating the window from the ship's side. Qi Su Niang cleaned up the mud mold, went to the pantry with a bucket to grab hot water, and prepared Chen Yan to come back to burn her feet to relieve fatigue. Fortunately, the thirteenth elder brother cared about the river workers and took care of Chen Yan, and his little eunuch Qin Shun helped her as a child, so that her little orphan girl was easier to get water than those first- and second-grade ministers, and the long-term servants of the third- and fourth-grade imperial guards. She walked out of the hot water room with water, and when she looked up, the fourteenth elder brother was still standing in the back cabin.

Chen Yan once saw the model, he was very happy, although he also knew this, at this time he really had no time to take care of it, so he entrusted Qi Su Niang, while teaching her how to trim, while reporting the new evidence every day, let Qi Su Niang change them one by one. And then when the calculation is checked, it is dedicated to the front of the Kangxi seat, which is mostly labor-saving.

After the fourteenth elder brother took a closer look at the model in Chen Yan's hands, whenever he went downstairs and returned to the room after drying the sand table, he occasionally stopped outside Qi Su Niang's window and let Qi Su Niang take a look at his rivers, mountains and terrain small sand table. Qi Su Niang felt that she was not young, but the clay mold she made for the first time was far less fine than the sand table made by the eleven-year-old child of the fourteenth elder brother, and she couldn't help but feel a little ashamed to ask for advice. Although she didn't speak, she took a solid look at the sand table of the fourteenth elder brother. Since then, the fourteenth elder brother has become more and more gracious, and occasionally asks her to do the sand table for him.

Despite this, the words and deeds of the fourteenth elder brother are very restrained and polite, and he is worthy of the style of several brothers. After a few days, he talked a little more, and he never went into the room alone. is to enter the room to talk to Qi Su Niang, it is necessary to wait for the thirteen elder brothers, who are tired of a day, to return to the ship, drag him along, followed by seventeen or eighteen palace maids and eunuchs, and squeeze Qi Su Niang's small cabin to the point where there is no place to stay. After a few days like this, Fu Yourong took care of it from time to time, and it was easier for Qi Su Niang to grab hot water and hot rice.

stayed in Gaojiayan for more than half a month, and when the actual evidence was obtained, Kangxi ordered to return to Jiangning. Everyone worked hard day and night for a month, and they all took advantage of the time when they returned to the flight to catch up on sleep. Chen Yan's shoes are worn out three or four pairs, in addition to surveying and calculating every day, he only squints his eyes for a while when he eats and burns his feet, and often he can fall asleep while standing.

Qi Su Niang brought a bowl of porridge from the dining room and fed him. When he had finished eating, he took off his coat, shoes, and socks, and fetched water for him to burn his feet. Chen Yan reluctantly reached out to hold her hand and said, "Su Niang, you've worked hard these days." ”

Qi Su Niang didn't like the rules on the royal boat anymore, she couldn't stand kneeling every day, and she admired Kangxi and Chen Yan so much, she looked up and smiled slightly, and said: "It's not hard, these things are not for selfishness, if they are successful, I don't have to be afraid of being chased by the flood in the future." After that, he helped him lie down on the bed, covered him with a quilt, and said softly, "Go to sleep." The emperor is a diligent man, and he can't be idle for a few days. ”

Chen Yan nodded, but held Qi Su Niang's hand and didn't let go, Qi Su Niang had to sit on the edge of the bed and listen to him: "Su Niang, as soon as this matter is over, I will accompany you back to the north, along the line of the Yongding River, looking for the family surnamed Wen, and finding your biological parents for you." ”

－－－－－－

Note 1: The names of the eunuchs around Brother Ah in this article are borrowed from "Dream Back to the Qing Dynasty", "Step by Step Shocking", "Lost", and "Drunken Travel in the Qing Dynasty"