Who says sleep is not spiritual practice?

Chapter 273 Brother Jiang, It's Your Turn

"So it's Brother Jiang."

Fan Yu was sitting cross-legged on the carpet. Seeing Jiang Qingshu's visit, he unhurriedly put the guqin aside, got up and made a gesture of invitation:
"Please come in."

At this time, there was no trace of surprise on his face, as if he had expected that the other party would come tonight.

"Mr. Qingshu."

On the side, the little girl seemed a little shy, and saluted stiffly.

Even though she only came to Jixia Academy for two months, she had already heard that among the nearly thousand students in the Academy today, the most outstanding ones were her husband and Jiang Qingshu, the eldest son of King Rejecting the North.

The two are nodding acquaintances on the surface, but almost everyone thinks that they are at odds with each other!
Especially when all the officials in the capital and even the emperor himself tried their best to win over and show favor to his husband, the crown prince Jing Yuan, who was known as a polite and virtuous corporal, showed a lukewarm attitude towards Fan Yu, which made many people It was expected that Jiang Qingshu was the one who got in the way and said bad things about Fan Yu!
and so……

Tonight, Jiang Qingshu paid an unexpected visit, I'm afraid the visitor is not good!
"Hello."

Jiang Qingshu nodded to the little girl with a smile, stepped in, first handed the box containing the sweet-scented osmanthus cake to the little girl, and then placed the pair of chess pieces gifted by Prince Jing Yuan on the stone table in the middle of the courtyard superior.

"Thank you, sir!"

The little girl took the wooden box and glanced at Fan Yu. Seeing him nodding slightly, she couldn't help but opened a crack and took a sneak peek.

The next moment, she was pleasantly surprised, and said greedily:
"Sir, it's sweet-scented osmanthus cake!"

Even though Fan Yu's contacts didn't need to open his mouth, there were countless people rushing to deliver delicacies to him, but...

Because he loves wine and meat, but he doesn't like sweets, most of the guests served wine and meat, so that the little girl rarely had pastries on weekdays.

It's not that Fan Yu is stingy.

He would reward the little girl with a sum of money every three to five days, and let her spend it recklessly. The money added up in the past two months is enough to buy half a sweet shop, but the little girl is used to being poor, and she is reluctant to spend it, saying yes I have to save the travel expenses for going home in the future, and buy gifts for my mother, grandfather, and grandmother.

It is worth mentioning that the little girl is not very old, but she secretly ran to the capital by herself with her family on her back.

According to her own words, this is a long-planned runaway from home.

She has longed for the capital since she was a child. After learning from her grandmother in the same village that the capital is to the east and that adults can walk there in three or four days, she set off from a small mountain village in Yizhou and brought enough dry food for five days. go east.

Five days later, the little girl came to a big city.

That city was very prosperous, there were more people than ants in the ant nest, and the city wall was taller than the ancient trees she had seen on the mountain, which opened the eyes of the little girl.

But just when she thought she had found the capital, she was told by a sister in the tailor shop that it was Jincheng, not the capital.

The capital is the capital of the Chu Kingdom, and in the east, with her foot strength, it would take at least several months to get there!

Hearing the bad news, the little girl didn't cry, and she didn't go home. She begged her sister in the tailor shop to help her, and promised that as long as she could enter the capital, she would sell herself to the rich and powerful as a maid!
Coincidentally, the elder sister of the tailor shop has exquisite skills and is somewhat famous in the world. In addition, the Shu brocade produced in Yizhou is one of the best materials for making clothes. I like to ask her for custom-made clothes.

So, after repeated persuasion to no avail, and she couldn't find the girl's relatives, she asked the escort responsible for escorting the clothes to the capital to pick up the little girl and send her to Beijing. Settled in a rich and powerful family and supported herself as a maid.

One month later, the little girl successfully entered Beijing.

After reading the letter, the wealthy lady who ordered the clothes read the letter, and in the face of her sister in the tailor shop, she accepted the little girl as a servant girl in the house. She was responsible for serving tea and pouring water on weekdays. .

But one day two months ago, the owner of the mansion hosted a banquet for the guests, and the maids and servants were busy entertaining the guests. Seeing that she was free, an old nanny asked her to warm a pot of wine.

In the end, because she didn't control the heat properly, the pot of wine was too hot to be served on the table immediately, so she was reprimanded by the old mother.

This scene happened to be seen by Fan Yu.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in the families of the rich and powerful, and he just turned a blind eye to it in the past.

But what is surprising is that that time, Fan Yu not only rescued the siege for the first time, but also accepted the little girl as his first student, and brought her to Jixia Academy to live together.

To this day, when the little girl thinks about it, she still feels like she is dreaming.

Thinking of this, the little girl hugged the box containing the pastry tightly, and although she really wanted to have a bite, she stubbornly lied.

"Sir, I, I don't like sweet-scented osmanthus cake!"

The little girl doesn't read much, but she also understands the principle of "short hand, soft mouth".

As a student of Mr. Fan Yu, since her husband and Jiang Qingshu are at odds, no matter how many pastries Jiang Qingshu brings, she will not take a bite!

She won't embarrass her husband!

But at this moment, Fan Yu reached out and touched the little girl's head, and ordered:

"If you want to taste it, go in and taste it, so as not to make the guests laugh."

"Also, help me take the qiluqin back to the house, remember not to steal food on the way, and don't drop pastry crumbs on the qin, or you will be punished for copying the "Book of Songs" fifty times!"

"By the way, don't forget to make tea."

"Use the pot of tea that I planted, picked, and dried myself last year."

The little girl froze for a moment, then nodded heavily:

"Yes!"

But the next moment, she looked at Fan Yu suspiciously again, and confirmed:
"Sir, can you really taste it?"

With a helpless expression on his face, Fan Yu tapped the other party's forehead lightly:

"Why, are you still afraid that Brother Jiang will poison you?"

The little girl stuck out her tongue:

"certainly not!"

"Thank you, sir!"

She nodded towards Jiang Qingshu, then bent down, hugged the guqin on the ground that was taller than her, hummed the songs of her hometown, and walked towards the house in a bouncing manner.

"..."

Fan Yu stood where he was, and was startled slightly when he heard the singing.

As if recalling the past.

Seeing the daily scene of the master and servant, Jiang Qingshu couldn't help but find it very interesting, and couldn't help but say:

"Brother Fan is lucky, he has accepted a good student."

Fan Yu came back to his senses, shook his head slightly, and said with a smile:

"Brother Jiang laughed, this girl is very stupid, and it takes a lot of effort to teach her!"

"Besides, she loves to play and can't calm down. On weekdays, she goes out to play every now and then. She goes out for several hours. I don't know which young master is fascinated. If I find out one day, I have to interrupt that kid. legs!"

As soon as this remark came out, the little girl who had already walked to the door of the house turned around and made a face at the two of them, and retorted:

"That's not true! I went out to do business! I didn't take a fancy to any young master!"

Fan Yu ignored the little girl, but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, obviously satisfied with the answer.

The next moment, he walked to the stone table and sat down. At the same time, he glanced at the set of chess pieces that Jiang Qingshu placed on the table, picked up a sunspot and pinched it on his fingertips, frowning slightly:

"I already have nine sets of jade chess pieces in my family, but in terms of quality and workmanship, the total of the nine sets can't compare to the one Brother Jiang brought today."

"Brother Jiang came to the door with such a generous gift, so he must be asking for something, right?"

Jiang Qingshu nodded slightly, but he didn't express his purpose immediately, but glanced at the surrounding layout.

The moonlight was thick tonight, and as far as the eye could see, the interior and exterior layout of the small courtyard could be seen at a glance.

To Jiang Qingshu's surprise, tomorrow is Fan Yu's big day, but there is no trace of festive decoration here. Not only are there no red lanterns hung up, and red happy characters are pasted on them, even the wine jars scattered in several corners of the yard are deserted. Cleaning looked a bit messy.

And the furniture in the house is all old, and there is no red mattress on the bed.

Jiang Qingshu didn't know why, so he asked:

"We're getting married tomorrow, why don't Brother Fan decorate the house?"

"marry?"

Fan Yu showed an unexpected expression:

"Brother Jiang paid a sudden visit because of his marriage, and gave him a big gift?"

"Thank you in advance."

"However, the Academy is a place to study academics, and it is not suitable for bridal chambers, so the place to get married tomorrow is not here. Instead, there are other places."

Jiang Qingshu asked curiously:

"Where?"

Fan Yu said frankly:
"Your Majesty gifted me a mansion, which is located on West Street, less than seven hundred steps away from Brother Jiang's residence."

"I heard that the servants have already cleaned it up, and all the arrangements have been handled by the Empress herself. When I hold a banquet in the mansion tomorrow, Brother Jiang, please remember to do me a favor and have a drink."

"..."

Jiang Qingshu's face darkened slightly.

It is reasonable for Jing Hong to bestow the mansion.

But there are so many mansions in the capital that he didn't choose, but he chose a mansion so close to his residence, obviously he has no good intentions!
If he couldn't stop Fan Yu, then his younger brother Jiang Qingyu would go to Beijing tomorrow and stay up all night at home, while the maid who had lived with him for 12 years was in a mansion not far away with another man...

"No, I will absolutely not allow such a thing to happen!"

A trace of determination flashed across Jiang Qingshu's eyes.

The next moment, he looked at Fan Yu and smiled heartily:
"Brother Fan, why wait until tomorrow if you want to drink?"

"Now we can play chess and cook wine at the same time!"

As he spoke, he reached into the chess jar, grabbed a white piece, and dropped it on the table:

"I hold the white first, can I?"

Fan Yu smiled warmly, and stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation:

"Brother Jiang, please sit down."

"Since you have such an elegant mood, then I will naturally accompany you to the end."

After that, he dropped the sunspots in his hand on the table as well.

There is no chess line carved on the stone table, but both of them are the best among them, not to mention that there is no chess line, even without chess pieces, they can play smoothly.

Jiang Qingshu couldn't help being taken aback when he saw Fan Yu's willingness to settle down.

"Brother Fan is so straightforward, it makes me look like a villain."

He showed guilt, and after thinking about it for a while, he finally made up his mind to express his intentions:
"Brother Fan, to be honest, His Royal Highness ordered me to give you this set of chess pieces. He wants me to play a game with you. If I win, then..."

However, Fan Yu didn't wait for him to finish, so he interrupted:

"What you said can't decide the outcome of the chess game at all."

"..."

Jiang Qingshu was stunned again, and raised his head to meet Fan Yu's gaze.

I saw the other party's eyes were clear, like a pool of clear water.

The clear water is like a mirror, reflecting chessboards with countless black and white chess pieces intertwined, dazzling.

His tone was cold, and there seemed to be a trace of anger:

"When playing chess, the most important thing to avoid is distraction, and the most important thing is to avoid being influenced by foreign objects."

"It's not Fan's arrogance. If Brother Jiang plays chess with distracting thoughts tonight, he will definitely not be able to beat me."

"And playing chess with such an opponent, even if I win, I will not be happy!"

"..."

As soon as this remark came out, Jiang Qingshu immediately understood.

He took the outcome of this chess game too seriously, so that his mentality went wrong.

If you play chess in this state, you will probably lose this game in all likelihood!

In the past, when he faced other opponents, because he was too famous, the mentality of many opponents would be more or less fluctuating, so that he often pointed out the mentality problems of the opponents before the start of the game, and waited for them to calm down before starting the game. But he didn't expect that it was his turn to be corrected today!

"What a shame!"

Jiang Qingshu couldn't help laughing at himself.

After realizing his problem, he closed his eyes, recited the article silently, and began to calm down.

After a while, he opened his eyes, which were already clear.

"That's right!"

Seeing this, Fan Yu immediately nodded and smiled:
"Brother Jiang, it's your turn to settle."

……

at the same time.

In the dead of night, nearly a hundred miles away, at the inn where Jiang Qingyu and his party were located, Dong Shen, the commander of the imperial guards, and a group of imperial guards under his command were surrounding the inn and guarding the surroundings.

Due to the late night and lack of people and horses, many Imperial Guards showed a bit of slack, and many even fell asleep sitting on their horses!
According to the military law, this should have been severely punished, but Dong Shen seemed to be a reasonable general, sitting on the horse with his eyes closed, as if he didn't see all this, and let his subordinates neglect their duties and rest.

Da da da……

Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps coming from far and near, which was especially abrupt in the silent night!

But the strange thing is that this Imperial Guard seems to be completely deaf, and they don't care about it. No one calls the enemy to attack, and no one looks back to observe the source of the sound.

next moment.

Accompanied by screams, the sound of knives and axes cutting into flesh and blood reached Dong Shen's ears.

He clenched his fists tightly, and at the same time opened his eyes a little, fixed his eyes on the room where Jiang Qingyu was in the inn, and said in a faint voice:
"He's in that room."

As soon as the words fell, a black figure floated past him, and said coldly:

"You don't need to remind, we have already inquired about it!"

"General Dong, just stay here and watch, and watch me bring that idiot's head back to Beijing to receive the reward!"

Dong Shen snorted coldly and did not refute.

In the next moment, black shadows passed by him one by one. At a glance, there were no less than a hundred people!
And behind this group of people, there are nearly a thousand men in black who are massacring the guards who have not shown much resistance!

Dong Shen didn't look back, but just looked at the group of men in black rushing forward with pity:

"Still thinking about killing someone to receive a reward?"

"Oh, idiot, we two groups are all His Majesty's outcasts!"

(End of this chapter)