CHAPTER XXXIV

The next day, when the five old man's family returned, they were really questioned by the "black dogs" by the dock.

Unlike when they arrived the day before yesterday, this time, it was Uncle Gui who handed over a big purse, and those people were still very strict, and even the book that Shanniang held in her hand was searched and picked up.

Still, it seems that the money bags have finally done their job, at least when they rummage through their luggage, they don't act as rudely as they search other ships. After the officials returned Shanniang's book to Uncle Gui, Shanniang deliberately pretended to be offended, twisted her neck and said, "Don't do it!" ”

Xu was afraid that the fifth wife would be frightened again, but the fifth master had a rare way to suppress his anger, and only sat there with a blue face and stared at those officials in silence. The fifth wife, in turn, was worried that the fifth master's temper would conflict with others, and kept standing close to the back of the fifth master's chair. It wasn't until the "black-skinned dogs" all withdrew from the ship that the family breathed a sigh of relief. Shanniang subconsciously touched the letter hidden in her waist.

The boatman was about to start the boat when a shout suddenly came from the shore. The fifth old man looked at it, and it was actually the old monk Dehui who led Yuan Changqing to see them off.

No matter what Yuan Changqing said, he also called the fifth master "fifth uncle", and it was supposed to be to see off the elders, but Shanniang felt that he might not be worried about his letter, this was to see them leave safely in person.

She thought that he would find an opportunity to ask her about the situation, but she didn't want Yuan Changqing to stand silently behind the old monk all the time, the fifth master and the fifth wife didn't take the initiative to ask him, and he didn't take the initiative to answer - well, in fact, this is quite normal, he was such a not very gregarious person, and Shanniang didn't think there was anything strange about him. Except that she wanted to give him a look to report safety, but she couldn't catch his sight.

From beginning to end, Yuan Changqing's eyes would look at the five masters and five wives, Hou Rui Hou Jue, and the old monk according to the object of the conversation, but he had never looked at Shanniang.

- Yo, this is a thorough avoidance! Shan Niang pursed her lips in understanding, and turned her head to look at the scenery outside the porthole.

And it wasn't until she turned her eyes away that Yuan Changqing glanced at her for the first time, and then respectfully replied to the words of the fifth master: "Yes, I will go back to the capital in the near future......"

All the way back to Meishan Town. When he was about to get off the boat, Hou Rui suddenly sighed: "Alas, I have to go to school again tomorrow." ”

The fifth master, who was helping the fifth wife to get off the boat, heard it, and immediately raised his eyebrows and turned his head, so frightened that Hou Rui's feet were stagnant, and he didn't dare to gasp loudly immediately.

The fifth master was just about to open his mouth to scold him, when he suddenly felt the fifth lady pull his sleeve. The fifth master looked down at the fifth wife, and when he looked back at Hou Rui, he somewhat restrained his anger and said to Hou Rui: "When it's time to take you to play, we will take you out." But when you should study seriously, you should also study seriously, otherwise I won't take you next time! "—in the end, there is no loud scolding with a high throat.

The old man helped his wife get off the boat, and Hou Jue took Shanniang's hand and stuck out his tongue at his brother and made a grimace.

*·*·*

Yuan Changqing's sentence "there may be someone watching" couldn't help but make Shanniang's heart beat a drum, and when she went to school the next day, after she got off the carriage in front of the mountain gate, she pretended to be looking for her classmates, and looked at all the people who were wandering around the mountain gate.

The so-called suspicious neighbor stealing the axe, she took care of it in her heart, and she saw that everyone looked like the person who acted suspiciously, so that when her classmates Zhao Xiang'er and You Hui came to pat her on the shoulder to greet her, she was almost so frightened that she screamed.

So when she met Lin Ruting at the fundraising meeting in the afternoon, she hurriedly found an opportunity to block Lin Ruting in a secluded corner and handed over the letter very smoothly.

Lin Ruting was surprised after receiving the letter, as if she wanted to ask her something, but politely didn't ask anything.

And although Shanniang is quite bold, and sending a letter is not a big deal, but in the end, the matter is secret, and it is still a little stressful for her. Now that she finally handed over the letter, she suddenly felt "debt-free and light", so she smiled at Lin Ruting and walked away briskly.

As soon as she came out of the secluded place, she bumped into Liu Mei who was looking for Lin Ruting. Liu Mei stopped her, "What about Senior Lin?" ”

"There." Shanniang, who was relaxed, was careless for a while, and didn't think much about it, so she casually pointed in the direction where Lin Ruting was.

And when she watched Liu Mei follow the direction of her finger, Shan Niang suddenly frowned - what is "Senior Lin"?! It sounded as if Liu Mei knew that Lin Ruting was called away by her......

When Liu Mei touched the direction pointed by Shanniang, she happened to see Lin Ruting stuffing a letter into her arms. Her eyes flashed, she only pretended not to see anything, greeted Lin Ruting, and said with a smile: "It turns out that the senior is here." ”

*·*·*

It's the Dragon Boat Festival in a blink of an eye.

Although the Hou family is not actually harmonious internally, the old lady loves to put on a family fun score, so every New Year's holiday, the men can use various reasons to slip away, but the women have to obey the old lady's call and go to co-star in such a drama of benevolence and filial piety.

In previous years, in order to escape such an occasion, Mrs. Fifth even did not hesitate to take a cold shower to make herself sick, but this year, she didn't have to worry about herself, and the fifth master directly made the decision for her.

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, Shanniang and Hou Rui Hou Jue packed themselves up, and were waiting for the old lady to go out together, when the old man came over and told them that the old man and the wife were not going, but no one at home could go, so they needed to go to the old lady on behalf of their husband and wife......

Fortunately, today is the Dragon Boat Festival. During the Dragon Boat Festival, it is naturally indispensable to watch the dragon boat race. The old lady has always paid attention to the atmosphere, and she has already sent people to set up a spectacular viewing platform on the edge of the Luomei River, and also invited relatives, friends, and local celebrities to watch the game together. When Shanniang followed her brother and brother to the viewing platform, the old lady was already sitting and laughing with the ladies of the town's well-known families. Of course, there are also the old lady of the Yuan family and Yuan Changxing and Yuan Er.

As the eldest in the family, Hou Rui had to take a step forward and report to the old lady that the five old men and five wives were both "infected with the cold" and could not come.

Whether the old lady believes it or not, in front of so many guests at this time, even if she doesn't believe it, she can only pretend to believe it, so she asked a few words of "illness" very worriedly, and sent someone to visit the five old men and his wife in a decent manner, and then sent some seasonal fresh fruits and various rice dumplings.

It's just that Hou Rui and Hou Jue are boys, that is, they leave the viewing platform and go wild and no one cares about them, but Shanniang is unfortunately a girl's family, and it is still a girl's house where the parents are not there, so not only the old lady, but even the aunts and aunts such as the eldest wife, the second wife, and the third wife, are very conscious of taking on the responsibility of guardianship and dragging Shanniang on the viewing platform. Fortunately, no one really cared about her, and after only expressing their kindness and kindness, the wives let Shanniang go. Bishan Niang is young and has a low seniority, and this slightly more favorable place on the viewing platform has long been occupied, so she has to be squeezed into the corner.

Although this platform is called the viewing platform, and everyone comes out in the name of watching the dragon boat race, in fact, few people are interested in the dragon boat race on the river. The seven aunts and eight aunts who couldn't be called relatives were all talking about it with great interest, and they didn't know the rights and wrongs of their families. The short Shanniang was stuck in the corner, and when she raised her eyes, she could only see a piece of bright jewelry, and a smooth black bun, not to mention a dragon boat, and not even a little ripple of the Luomei River.

She lay down on the table, holding her forehead with her hands, and even her intestines were repentant. If she had known that her unreliable father was here, she should have gone to take a cold shower last night......

She was regretting it when someone suddenly sat down beside her. The movement was obviously tinged with resentment.

Shanniang looked under her wrist and saw Fourteen Niang sitting beside her with a tense face. She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows inquiringly.

Fourteen Niang didn't look at her at first, and was alone there silently for two breaths, and then suddenly turned her head to look at her, and asked her with a stiff smile: "What is Sister Thirteen doing sitting here alone?" ”

Nonsense! Shanniang rolled her eyes silently and said lazily: "Look at the dragon boat." ”

"There's nothing to see here." Fourteen glanced at the back of the row in front of him.

"yes." Shanniang propped up her forehead again. If it weren't for her demeanor, she would have wanted to lie on the table directly at this time, so she didn't have the patience to deal with fourteen - fourteen likes to say it, if she doesn't like to talk, she doesn't bother to listen to it!

Fourteen put on that face, just to lure Shanniang to take the initiative to ask her, but Shanniang was very calm, so she couldn't hold her breath.

She suddenly turned around, learned Shanniang's posture, and also propped one elbow on the table, propped her head and said, "Sister is not angry?" ”

"What am I angry about?" Shanniang is still the same lazy appearance.

"They say that about my sister, my sister ......" Fourteen paused, and suddenly realized, "It turns out that my sister doesn't know!" ”

"Know what?"

Fourteen looked carefully left and right, and leaned over to Shanniang's side and whispered, "I heard that my sister and Cousin Yuan secretly met in the Jade Buddha Temple. ”

Shanniang was stunned, and suddenly put down the hand holding the corner of her forehead. Although it is not a secret that she and Yuan Changqing met in the Jade Buddha Temple, it is not worth asking so much! And the word "secretly" is also used.

Her reaction was to make a flash of fierceness flash in Fourteen's eyes. Fourteen sat up straight and lowered his voice, "This is true?!" ”

Shanniang looked at her, raised her eyebrows and asked, "Who sued you?!" ”

"You don't care who said it, you only sue me, is it true?!" Fourteen stared at her, an expression that almost pounced on her and bit her.

Shanniang couldn't help but wonder for a while, "Yes or no, what does it have to do with you?" You're so ......."

Syllable!

Fourteen suddenly slapped the table and stood up, which made Shanniang blink, and made everyone around turn their heads to look.

It wasn't until the eyes around him looked over that Fourteen realized her gaffe, and hurriedly smiled and said to Shanniang: "Scared me to death, I thought I was a bug, it turned out to be wrong." So saying, he sat back down.

When all the curious eyes around him turned away, Fourteen suddenly grabbed Shanniang's sleeve again, looked around and said with a smile, "Sister will accompany me out to change my clothes." ”

Shanniang naturally didn't want to move, but she couldn't help Fourteen Niang, who was obviously a month younger than her, but half a head taller than her, was dragged down from the viewing platform by her.

Today's followers are Wufu and Lu'an. Seeing this, the two of them were busy and wanted to follow, but Fourteen Niang pointed at them fiercely, "I have something to say to your master!" ”

Shanniang was afraid that she would make an ugly fuss in public, and she also wanted to know what was going on, so she motioned for Wufu and Lu'an to stay.

Fourteen dragged Shanniang to a sheltered place by the river, and when he saw that there was no one around, he shook Shanniang's hand fiercely, gritted his teeth and said, "Sister, don't pretend to be garlic for me!" Sister obviously knows that the old lady intends to ...... me" She bit her lip, her eyes suddenly turned red, and she reached out and grabbed Shanniang's arm, and said with a choked voice: "I can't compare to my sister, my sister is smarter than me, and she is more capable than me, Cousin Yuan must like you more than me, but I ......"

Shanniang was stunned again - where is this?! She still thought that Yuan Changqing had done something that had been discovered, why did he even talk about who he liked and who he didn't like?! Moreover, she and Yuan Da are not that kind of relationship......

“…… Although my sister is a concubine like me, but there is only one sister in my sister's family, and the five uncles and five aunts all spoil my sister, which is like me, there are a bunch of sisters and sisters in the family, if I don't stammer the old lady and ask the old lady to look up at me, our old lady is afraid that she doesn't know who I am. Now that the old lady finally loves me, she is optimistic about this family for me, and my sister comes to intervene, and my sister doesn't want me to live. As he spoke, Fourteen pulled Shanniang's sleeve and burst into tears.

Shanniang blinked for a long time before she finally understood the meaning of her words, and couldn't help but lean over and ask, "You mean to say that the old lady decided to marry you?" ”

Fourteen nodded, pulling out his handkerchief and wiping away tears.

Shanniang was puzzled for a while. Looking at the meaning of the old lady of the Yuan family, she took a fancy to Eleven Niang, and she thought that the old lady would also choose Eleven Niang......

Seeing her puzzled, Xu Shi raised his head and said, "Sister doesn't believe it?!" He added, "It was the old lady who told me personally, saying that she would only wait for Yuan's eldest cousin to come back from his uncle's birthday, and someone sued me before, saying that before the eldest cousin returned to Beijing, he had a private meeting with you in the Jade Buddha Temple, you, you...... How can you do that?! Obviously, you already have Senior Lin......"

Shanniang was surprised by the word "private meeting", and suddenly heard Lin Ruting's name again, and couldn't help but be even more surprised.

"W-What?!"

- Okay, why is this related to Lin Ruting again?!