The Rise of the Cold Gate in the Eastern Jin Dynasty

Chapter 52

On March [-]st, in the early morning, the sky was bright.

Xiao Qinzhi has already dressed a new one. Today he specially changed into a black satin suit and woven silk shoes. He had breakfast with Xiao's mother in the dining room. After listening to some orders, he took Zhou Lie and Mangu out of the west building .

The [-] members in front of the gate are fully armed and ready to go. Uncle Six, Uncle Seven, and Uncle Nine are making pre-departure checks. Surprisingly, the drowsy Xiao Shu and Fat Old Ba are among them .

"What are you going to do? Go back to sleep." One of Xiao Qin gave a hammer, disturbing the two of them.

"I'm going to see my niece." The fat old eight squeezed his face and said.

"What about you?" Xiao Qinzhi looked at Xiao Shu who looked up at the sky at 45 degrees anytime and anywhere.

"I'm going to see the difference between the sky in Wuxi and the sky in Wujin?" Xiao Shu said pretendingly.

"Hey--" Xiao Qinzhi snickered twice, suddenly amused by Xiao Shu's pretentiousness.

As soon as the fat old Ba raised his head, he saw that the sky was still dark and he couldn't even see Mao. He knew that Xiao Shu was pretending to be aggressive again, so he simply ignored him and continued to doze with his head tilted.

Wuxi's group focused on picking up people, so they packed lightly and traveled lightly, only carrying dry food for a few days. The group gradually left the gate of Xiao's Manor in an orderly manner, walked on the smooth road, and headed towards Xijindu.

Xiao's mother stood in front of the big window in the dining room, watching her son leave, she couldn't help crying.

The patriarch stood on the promenade, staring at the faintly visible moon in the sky, while the twilight in the east gradually emerged, and muttered to himself:

"Quick! Quick!"

Unexpectedly, I just came back from Jingkou yesterday, and I will leave for Wuxi today, but this time, without the company of the patriarch, and a group of dozens of people, all under the leadership of Xiao Qinzhi, this forced him to give up his laziness in the past His airs changed from his previous tiredness, and he became more serious.

Uncle Seven led the pilot on the front boat, while Xiao Qinzhi and the others were on the back boat with Uncle Six. The two big boats sailed empty-handed. They set off from Xijin Ferry in the early morning and went southward at a fast speed. In the evening, they arrived at Jinling County. .

Prefect Xie returned to Jinling a few days ago in a small boat. If there was no urgent matter, Xiao Qinzhi should have paid a visit to see if he could get the "Declaration Form". This matter has become an obsession in Xiao Qinzhi's heart.

Early the next morning, the fleet set sail again, passed Jinling County, changed the waterway to the southeast, and walked around the east bank of Taihu Lake. At dusk, it arrived at Fenglin Ferry in Wuxi County.

In that year's Taihu Yaji, Xiao Yunzhi and Hua Yanzhi had known each other for more than a year, and they got married in March of the following year. At that time, Xiao Qinzhi had already come to Fenglindu when he sent his elder sister to marry.

The so-called Fenglindu is named after the maple trees. From Fenglindu, you can see Huishan from a distance. The thick and leafy maple trees several feet high are crowded together to form a vast maple leaf forest, which stretches for several miles. It has spread to the foot of Huishan.

The afterglow of the setting sun is not there, the skyline is dim, and the maple forest is luxuriant. There is only a "rustling" sound, which can be heard everywhere. The three-pointed and two-edged thin-stalked leaves turn over and sway when the evening wind blows, so there is this sound.

Maple, wind tree also.

Xiao Qinzhi couldn't see the maple forest clearly, nor could he see the Huayuan at the foot of Huishan Mountain, but he guessed that the maple leaves at this time should be plump green, curved green with thin petioles.

Even so, Xiao Qinzhi's eyes can't tolerate spring, but only red, which is bleak red, regretful red, and sad red. Whenever a red leaf falls from a branch, it is like dancing snowflakes. Cool dance music, free and elegant.

Compared with winter, one is foggy and snowy in winter, and the other is red withered in late autumn.

"Qinzhi, are you going to Huayuan now?" Sixth Uncle asked, and Seventh Uncle on another boat also heard the sound and looked over, waiting for Xiao Qinzhi's order.

"Sixth Uncle, it's getting late, it's not suitable to come to the door. You write a letter of worship, and you can send someone to the Huayuan. Let my sister pack up and get ready. I will come to pick you up tomorrow morning." Across the maple forest, Xiao Qinzhi said, Looking at Huayuan from a distance, he wandered and said, "I have traveled more than 100 miles. What's the rush for the last few miles?"

Xiao Qinzhi knew the patriarch's intentions, so he couldn't act recklessly, he had to be careful in everything, going out, it represented the face of the clan, so he couldn't be careless.

"Well, that's a good move!" Sixth Uncle replied happily, and said to Seventh Uncle on the other boat: "Qin Zhi said that he will come to the door tomorrow and make repairs tonight." After finishing speaking, he went back to the warehouse to write a greeting card, Send people to Huayuan.

After filling their stomachs hastily on the boat, the person who sent the greeting card also came back and brought back two letters, one is from the patriarch of the Hua clan, Yan will wait for you in Huayuan tomorrow, and the other is from Xiao Yunzhi, Yan already knows , and asked Xiao Qinzhi to come early tomorrow to discuss matters.

The night at Fenglin Ferry, Xiao Qinzhi hoped that his sister would return, it was a very long night, and at the same time, he was brewing in his heart the rhetoric for tomorrow.

In the early morning of the next day, there was noise at the ferry, and the night-staying boats anchored and left the port one after another. Man Gu had already prepared breakfast, Zhou Lie was carrying the wash water, and Xiao Qinzhi took a few sips after cleaning himself up.

"Get ready to disembark!" Seventh Uncle shouted at the top of his voice.

"Sixth Uncle, to go to Huayuan today, it's just me, you, Man Gu and Ah Lie, and the rest are waiting at the ferry." Xiao Qinzhi thought over and over again.

"Oh? Why is that? Your second uncle sent dozens of people to protect you!" Uncle Six laughed.

"If many people can solve the problem, why not go to recover the Central Plains, why bother living in Jiangzuo." Looking at the green maple forest, Xiao Qinzhi said thoughtfully: "This is not something that can be solved by many people."

Sixth Uncle nodded, turned around and told Seventh Uncle to wait at the ferry.

"Aren't we going too?" The fat old man asked resentfully.

"Don't go, wait for news from Mangu or Ah Lie." Xiao Qinzhi said in a deep voice.

A group of four rented a small boat, walked along the inland river, passed through the bustling West City, crossed the Xingning Bridge, and then crossed the East City, disembarked at Xingning Temple, and walked to Huayuan at the foot of Huishan Mountain.

There are two major surnames in Wuxi, one is Gu and the other is Hua.

Needless to say, the Gu family is one of the four great families in Wudi. Only Wuxi Huayuan is the largest and is the foundation of Fahrenheit.

Although the Xiao family in Lanling was one of the last gentry families back then, they had a natural sense of superiority because they were relocated gentry from the north.

Huayuan has a long history and can be traced back to the Eastern Wu period, so the scale is much larger than Xiao's Manor. The typical garden structure in the south of the Yangtze River, mountains, stones, water, pavilions, bamboos, and forests are planted with exotic flowers and plants. Focus on "fresh and elegant, people and nature".

In front of the gate of Huayuan, several people were already waiting, Xiao Qin recognized one of the maids named Kong Qing at a glance, she was Xiao Yunzhi's dowry maid.

Waiting impatiently, Kong Qing saw a black-clothed boy approaching not far away. His eyes were like bright stars, and his movements were like the breeze. Although there was a trace of childishness on his face, his every move was full of stability and grandeur.

Although Kong Qing hadn't seen Xiao Qinzhi for a few years, and didn't dare to call him by his name, but after living in the Xiao family for so long, he recognized Zhou Lie who was a head taller than Xiao Qinzhi at a glance. His appearance was really scribbled , very well identifiable.

From this, Kong Qing concluded that the boy in black must be the Young Lord of Qin, hurriedly walked up to meet him, and called anxiously: "Young Lord of Qin, follow me quickly, Madam has been waiting for you!"

Xiao Qinzhi stood still, guessing that Auntie must have something urgent to discuss, he said softly to Sixth Uncle: "Sixth Uncle, you take Ah Lie to see Mr. Hua, I will go to see Aunt Xun first."

In the Jin Dynasty, nicknames were usually preceded by surnames and followed by official titles, such as Wang Xizhi and Wang Youjun, Xie Yi and Xie Taishou, but the habits of southerners are slightly different from those of northerners. Generally, officials call them "envoys" when they go to the prefect. No matter how advanced it is, it can be called "Ming Gong".

The patriarch of the Hua clan moved to the prefect, so he can call him the Hua envoy.

Together with Man Gu, Xiao Qinzhi walked to a small gate on the west side with the impatient Kong Qing, walked through several corridors, and walked to the "Orchid Grass Garden", where the fragrance of the garden was all in sight.

The dignified and beautiful Clivia is in full bloom; the light yellow-green ink orchid is low-key and elegant; the strange and lovely oncidium, whose flowers are like flying golden butterflies, is flying among the bushes; the beautiful spring orchid is quiet and lofty
Among the clumps of gorgeous blooming spring flowers, stood a bleak woman in plain clothes, nothing else, like the autumn wind sweeping through the maple leaf forest, and falling a piece of withered red.

In the morning breeze, she stared at the gate of the courtyard with pretty eyes. She waited from the early morning to the third day, and finally looked forward to the elder brother who was thinking about it day and night. , only called softly: "Brother, you are here."

The elder sister in Xiao Qinzhi's impression overlapped with the elder sister in front of him, she became haggard, her eyes were a little confused, her face was withered like a faded peach blossom, but she was only pale, her body was like a reed flower swaying in the river wind, like If you touch it, it will fall apart.

Xiao Qinzhi walked into the Lanhua Cong, gently wiped away the tears from the corners of Sister's eyes with his sleeve, and said slowly: "Sister, you have lost weight."

【Ask for a monthly ticket—thank you】

(End of this chapter)