Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 2
"Tianbao for five years, is it Xuan... is there Concubine Yang?"

"Hey, you don't even remember your own life experience, but you remember it very clearly, concubine?"

"Is there Anlu Mountain?"

"I seem to have heard from my elder brother-in-law. I remember it was a certain place's Jiedushi? He came to Beijing to ask to be a concubine to raise a child, and there were many interesting stories."

"..."

Xue Bai woke up from the couch in the side room, still thinking about the conversation last night.

Many things should have been prepared long ago, but even the body is still a little weak.

Shaking his head, he got up and put on the quilted jacket beside the bed, which was filled with brocade, which was still warm.

He has lived in Du's house for three days, and has two meals a day. Not to mention the taste, at least he can eat soup cakes or flax cakes as much as he wants, and he has learned a lot about the local customs.

Entering the wing room, bypassing the screen, Du Wulang was still snoring.

Xue Bai pushed him and said, "Get up, a Taoist priest is here to exorcise you today."

"Sleep again." After turning over, Du Wulang muttered, "It's time to get up, and help Duanyan pass the bridge today."

"Duqiao?"

"Naihe bridge, drink Meng Po soup, cross the Naihe bridge, and reincarnate into a good family in the next life."

As Du Wulang said, he felt a lot better and stood up.

Xue Bai was slightly at a loss, and said to himself: "Meng Po Soup."

"Yeah, or else I'll be a lonely ghost." Du Wulang picked up a pair of fox fur and put it on, buttoned it casually, and said, "But if I can still remember the things in my previous life when I reincarnated, then that's a lot of trouble." It must be interesting."

"Really interesting."

At this time, there was a knock on the door outside the house, and Xue Bai went to open the door.

It was Qing Lan again, her hair was combed into a double bun, tied with a hair rope, and there was a belt around her waist to lift up the green and white striped color skirt so that she could walk easily... she was dressed like a maid in Tang Dynasty appearance.

Well, she was originally a maid in Tang Dynasty.

"Has Goro woke up? The real person has arrived."

"get up."

Qing Lan walked into the house, frowned when she saw Du Wulang's messy appearance, and blamed Xue Bai: "You didn't put Wulang's clothes on properly either."

She stepped forward to tie Du Wulang's clothes.

"I'll do it myself." Du Wulang panicked instead, and took two steps back, not knowing where to put his hands, "I can wear it myself, you are busy with your work, I will go there right away."

"Then Wulang will go to the second court to wash up soon." Qing Lan saluted, then called Xue Bai, and said: "To set up the altar, people need to move things by hand, you follow me first."

"it is good."

As soon as she came in, she arranged for the two people in the room, quite like a servant girl in the family.

Leading Xue Bai through the veranda, she didn't forget to give him a few words.

"I know that you may be from a wealthy family, and you are not used to these things. But compared to being an official slave, being able to work in the Du family is a great blessing, and you should put your heart into it."

"Okay, it should."

"Wu Lang regards you as a playmate." Qing Lan smiled slightly, then said in a serious tone, "But don't lose your self-awareness as a servant."

She felt that these words were soft but strict, which could be called powerful.

Xue Bai still answered "Yes" with a normal expression.

However, Qing Lan felt that she couldn't control this young man, and thought that the person walking beside her was A Lang, who was a senior official of the fifth rank.

The two passed through the Houyi Gate, and she stopped and walked behind, adjusted a bit, and reminded herself to maintain the demeanor of a maidservant.

~~
The second court is already setting up an altar, and a servant is following a Taoist boy to set up an incense table.

There are many small bells hanging, which make a crisp sound.

There was an old Taoist with gray beard and hair standing proudly in the courtyard, holding a dust whisk in his hand, carrying a mahogany sword on his back, looking like a fairy.

Seeing Xue Bai and Qing Lan approaching, the old Taoist smiled slightly and stepped forward to meet them.

"The impoverished Daoist Fang Daxu is so polite. When I saw him today, Du Wulang is really natural and elegant. He will definitely not take it easy in the future."

At the end of the speech, the old Taoist waved the whisk lightly in his hand, and his tone was firm.

Qing Lan had put her hands on her waist and was about to salute, she was stunned when she heard the words, and said: "The Taoist priest misunderstood, Wu Lang hasn't come here yet, this is..."

She glanced at Xue Bai, and felt that Fang Daxu was embarrassed to say that he was a book boy.

At this time, there was a sudden "bang" in the direction of the study.

Qing Lan gave Xue Bai a slight push, and said, "Go and see if anything is broken, and clean it up."

"it is good."

Xue Bai saluted Fang Daxu who was still stroking his beard to hide his embarrassment, then turned around and walked towards the study.

Bypassing the small bamboo garden and climbing up the steps, the sound of quarrels can already be heard.

"If it weren't for you, how could Goro suffer such a disaster?!"

"It was Goro who spoke lies. Fortunately, the son-in-law asked a friend, and Ji Dalang released Goro..."

"Shut up, it's just arguing, don't mention your cronies again!"

"The father-in-law is so angry, but what did the son-in-law do wrong? Isn't it for the good of the Du family that the son-in-law befriends a handsome man?!"

There was another loud bang.

The door of the study room was not closed, Xue Bai stepped forward and saw Du Youlin angrily pushing down a low table.

"For the good of the Du family? Cough cough, can you say such a thing? You are a soldier, how much is your salary? You use your daughter's dowry to send luxury things to those celebrities and bring disaster to the Du family. How dare you swear by it."

"My father-in-law is confused. I don't know what I can do if I give up. Now that I win them over, they will support the prince in the future..."

"Shut up! Shut up!"

Du Youlin was so angry that he almost fainted, supported by Lu Fengniang and Quan Rui, he stroked his forehead with his hands, panting endlessly.

Standing opposite them was a handsome young man, wearing a brocade fur coat, with a dark blue soft headband on his head, holding a folding fan and hanging a jade fan pendant in the cold winter months, his appearance looked really good.

Presumably this is the eldest son-in-law of the Du family, Liu Ji.

Although Xue Bai has only been to Du's house for three days, he has heard the name of Liu Lang's son-in-law often.

In Du Wulang's mouth, the eldest brother-in-law is arrogant by nature, enthusiastic and informal, so he has a wide range of friends; but in the rest of the Du family's mouth, Liu Ji is arrogant and rude, flattering others and indifferent to his family, with high eyesight and low hands. The subskins are pretty much useless.

At this time Liu Ji turned a blind eye to Du Youlin's furious attitude, and said to himself: "It is precisely because the prince has no power in the court that he allows others to bully him."

"I tell you to shut up! Hugh mention the prince again!"

Du Youlin's face was flushed red, and he wanted to break away from the support to rush to Liu Ji.

"Why can't I mention it? My father-in-law will be the head of the country in the future, so he is too timid and cowardly..."

It was only at this time that Xue Bai suddenly realized. No wonder Du Wulang mentioned the "Second Sister" in awe these few days. It turned out that the second lady of the Du family was married to the current prince.

Seeing Du Youlin stare, he was so angry that he fainted.

"Alang!"

Over there Liu Ji said "I am the prince's brother-in-law", when he suddenly saw this situation, his expression changed and he hurried forward to help him.

"Go away!" Lu Fengniang screamed, flustered.

The steward, Quan Rui, hurriedly shouted, "Quick, please come here, doctor."

The maid Caiyun ran out in a hurry and bumped into Xue Bai.

Xue Bai rushed forward to help Du Youlin with a calm demeanor.

"Let him lie on his side with his collar unbuttoned and keep him breathing."

"Alang! Alang!"

Fortunately, Du Youlin woke up not long after, and the first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to raise his finger to Liu Ji with difficulty, bit his lips, and repeat a word.

"Heli...heli..."

Xue Bai looked at Liu Ji, and saw that his eyelids visibly twitched a few times, his face full of disbelief.

Looking back, I can see a piece of calligraphy hanging on the wall of the study room, with eight regular characters in regular script.

"Be cautious in your words and deeds, as if walking on eggshells."

~~
At noon that day, the old Taoist priest in the courtyard was still shaking the soul-calling bell in his hand, humming and muttering words.

"I invite the Nine Heavens Commander to protect the house, Zhenjun, to stop the panic..."

Liu Ji walked past the altar in a daze, and when he walked around the wall photo, he didn't realize that the folding fan in his hand fell to the ground.

~~
It's almost evening.

The ceremony was finally done, and Lu Fengniang prayed several times to the incense table "no disasters and no diseases" before ordering people to pack it up, and then invited the old Taoist priest to eat.

Xue Bai helped pack all kinds of things, and went to the front yard to have dinner with the servants.

Then a servant asked him: "Did you see that? Ah Lang really made up his mind to let the eldest lady reconcile this time?"

Xue Bai shook his head and said, "I don't know."

"But Quan Fu said it during lunch, and you were in the study at that time."

"I did not understand."

Others were muttering about the quarrel in the morning, only Xue Bai stayed away from talking about it, focusing on gnawing on the mochi cake.

"Xue Bai."

With his hands behind his back, Du Wulang leaned out half of his body at the outer instrument gate, and said, "Come here quickly."

The two then walked to the veranda and sat down by the railing.

"you eat."

Du Wulang glanced around, took out a chicken leg from his back, and took out an egg from his sleeve.

This is not the first time, Xue Bai accepted it calmly.

First of all, he doesn't feel ashamed of working part-time, and secondly, he thinks it is natural for people to help each other.He has a kind of self-confidence that he will repay sooner or later when he is helped, so he is frank and generous without any shyness.

"Standing for a whole day, Fang Zhenren shook the talisman in front of my eyes, so tired." Du Wulang stretched his waist and said, "What about you?"

"Sweep the floor and tidy up." Xue Bai said, "I sneaked a look at your books while tidying up the bookshelves in the afternoon."

"It's all a bit of a joke, and it can be worth seeing."

"For usefulness, not for fun."

"You are really different from ordinary people." Du Wulang couldn't help feeling, and asked: "My grandfather and eldest brother-in-law quarreled again? Do you really want to reconcile?"

Xue Bai asked back: "Is it okay to make peace? How does Liu Lang's son-in-law treat your eldest sister?"

"I don't know." Du Wulang thought for a while, finally scratched his head, and sighed: "I just think that my eldest brother-in-law treats me very warmly. It's like I didn't want to go to Pingkangfang, but... alas!"

"You wanted to reciprocate his enthusiasm by doing something you didn't want to do?"

Du Wulang nodded, thinking of the dead Duanyan again.

"How old is your eldest sister?"

Du Wulang counted his fingers silently and said, "Bingyin...twenty and six, what's the matter? "

"It's not difficult to remarry."

Only for a moment did Xue Bai think that becoming the prince's brother-in-law would be a good way out, but now the age difference is too great.

Pity.

"Marry again?" Du Wulang asked, "You don't like your eldest brother-in-law either?"

"There's one thing that I've always found strange. Do Liu Lang's son-in-law know Ji Dalang?"

"Yeah, they can talk."

Xue Bai asked: "Then Liu Lang took you to Pingkangfang, met Ji Dalang, and Ji Dalang troubled you, is this all a coincidence?"

Suddenly, shouts came from the front yard.

"This is the private residence of the imperial court official!"

"Go away!"

The two turned their heads and saw a group of officials kicking like wolves into the second courtyard from the front yard, and shouting back the porters who followed, all of them were vicious.

The leader of the group held his toes high and shouted loudly: "Jingzhao Mansion takes someone! Which one is Du Youlin?"

"Wait a minute, chief official." Quan Rui rushed out in a hurry, and politely shouted: "Please come to the hall to have a cup of tea, okay?"

"Let Du Youlin come out!"

The official turned his eyes to the sky coldly, and pushed Quan Rui's hand away.

A few broken pieces of silver fell to the ground.

"What's the noise?"

Following these words, Du Youlin walked out slowly from the west study room, with one hand behind his back and a book in the other, and asked, "But Jingzhao Mansion is looking for the old man?"

"You are Du Youlin? Take it!"

A group of officials rushed straight up and held Du Youlin down.

In the confusion, the scroll fell to the ground.

"Let go! It's insulting to gentlemen... Do you know who this old man is?!"

Quan Rui didn't expect that they would really dare to take the imperial court's orders, so he hurried forward to stop them.

"Don't make mistakes, don't make mistakes, can the senior officials know? The second lady of the Du family is the current crown prince Liangdi!"

"It's the prince Yuezhang!"

Hearing a "clang", the officer drew out his knife and calmed down Du Youlin who was still trying to struggle.

"Listen up, Du Youlin' falsely claimed to be a prophecy, handed over to the East Palace, and denounced Chengyu'. He will be arrested and interrogated by the Jingzhao Mansion. The rest will be temporarily detained in the house and not allowed to leave without permission!"

As soon as they heard the crime, everyone was stunned.

Lu Fengniang rushed out from the hall, seeing this situation, she was so startled that she slumped on the ground.

Du Youlin looked mournful, his lips trembled and he didn't dare to move.

Quan Rui's face was pale and his eyes were lost.

This family was originally from a noble family, and today they didn't do anything, but suddenly they were hit by a bolt from the blue.

With such a big crime covered, no one in this house can escape.

"Grandpa!"

Seeing that Du Youlin was being taken away, Du Wulang subconsciously chased after him for two steps, his feet softened and he almost fell to the ground.

Someone grabbed him.

He looked up and saw Xue Bai's immature face and calm eyes...

(End of this chapter)