Lie down and eat melon in the protagonist group

Chapter 9

On the day of the birthday party, the family was very busy. The maids and ladies all went to the front to serve tea and water to entertain the guests, but Ling Dang was followed closely. The house was so busy that she was left alone.

Lying on the railing on the second floor of the main hall of the inner courtyard, I looked at the foyer and garden. The door was wide open, welcoming guests and receiving gifts. The hall outside the door was full of sedan chairs. Further inside, there is the second hall connected to the flower hall, where the male and female family members sit separately separated by a long curtain.

After watching the excitement for a while, Ling Dang got tired of the novelty. She could only watch them talking, but she couldn't hear a word, it was very boring.

His gaze turned to the side and he saw a person standing beside the Taihu stone rockery in the side yard, looking up at her.

It was Ling Huai who was freshly dressed. He was wearing a new narrow-sleeved robe with rusty red edges. He even wore a red bandana, making him look like a young man from a wealthy family.

Ling Dang waved to him, and he smiled at her facing the sun.

He walked towards the inner courtyard to find her, and she hurried downstairs.

She was taken out of bed early in the morning before dawn and dressed up in makeup. She also had specially accessorized belts on her skirt and many jade beads and hairpins hanging on her head. The jingle ring seemed to be in the way when she ran, so she simply held the hem of her skirt with one hand and her hair accessories with the other, and ran downstairs in two steps.

As soon as Ling Huai stepped onto the steps, Ling Dang hurriedly raised his hand to greet him. When he saw a woman rushing towards him, she was so frightened that she hurriedly hid behind a pillar.

There was nothing she could do about it. Ling Jing usually controlled her too tightly, to the point of being crazy. She and Ling Huai hadn't spoken a word for half a month.

"People left, and now there is no one." Ling Huai came to the pillar at some point.

Lingdang leaned on the pillar and looked around. When she saw no one, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "What were you doing standing on the rockery just now?"

"Wait for you."

"Didn't you ask me to come forward and help?"

"Busy working."

"Obviously I couldn't play with them and it was boring to stay, so I slipped out." She saw Ling Cen rolling around on the floor with a group of children while he stood alone under the shadow of a tree.

"There's no point in being alone."

"It's so boring." Ling Dang couldn't separate the tangled tassels, and it was difficult to untie them with his hands above his head.

"I'll do it." He stood in front of her and arranged it for her.

Ling Dang lowered his head and saw a small bag hanging on his waist.

The pouch looked familiar to her. It was made by her hands and was given to him as a birthday gift. The pouch was originally a fan bag for holding fans, but because of her poor craftsmanship, she cut and modified the folding fan into a palm-sized bamboo fan.

The fan was broken, so I hurriedly embroidered a bag to cover it up. I never thought that the embroidery on the bag would be even more ugly than the fan.

She didn't think she could give it to anyone, so how could she give it to others as a gift? Therefore, on his birthday, she asked Ling Qiong to help find a good fan to give to him.

Unexpectedly, he accepted the gift and asked for something else from her.

At that time he said: "I saw you cutting down the bamboo in the garden and said you wanted to make a fan for me."

She was so embarrassed that she tried to hide it under the guise of haha: "It didn't happen. I was just joking."

He didn't ask further questions, but the dejection in his eyes made her unbearable, so she finally gave him the small broken fan and its pouch.

Now seeing him hanging on his body openly, it was so ugly that her eyes hurt.

Ling Dang was so embarrassed that he reached out and took out the small bag and stuffed it into his arms, saying, "Don't take it out and make yourself look embarrassed."

"I think it's fine, why should I be embarrassed?" He wanted to hang up again.

"It's my people who are being thrown away. Don't let me die."

"The person who lost you?" He let her snatch it away with his hands.

"It doesn't match your clothes. Put it away and don't wear it again. You won't be allowed to wear it in the future either." Ling Dang stuffed it into his lapel.

"Well, okay, it's up to you." He took her and walked out, "Follow me."

"where to?"

"Go to my room, this is not the place to talk."

Ling Huai led her into his house, led her all the way to the inner room, came to a small cubicle, and led her to open the door and go in.

"This room is so dark." Ling Dang waved his hand in front of his eyes.

He lit the candlestick and went to close the window and draw the curtains.

"Huh?" Ling Dang didn't understand what he was doing. Shouldn't he open the window to let in some light?

"I want to show you something." Ling Huai held the candle and led her to a long table.

There is a hollow wooden carving on the table, with layers scattered around. Looking at it, you can see that the holes are winding and densely packed, shapeless, and you can't tell why.

"Is this it?" Ling Dang asked.

"This is the shadow sculpture." Ling Huai pushed the table away, but it was empty underneath. He put down the candle lantern and then pulled the table back to cover it tightly. "It also has a name, called Glimpse of Light."

The shadow sculpture was illuminated by candlelight and dyed golden.

"Use this bead to see, and I'll teach you." He handed her a glass bead and taught her to hold the bead to her eyes.

Ling Dang looked at the wooden sculpture through the beads and found that it turned into a picture of a long street with bright lights.

She was so shocked by the scene in front of her that she opened her mouth wide. As soon as she took the bead away, she saw that there was just a messy wooden sculpture in front of her. It didn't look like the night scene of the long street.

"Paint one side at a time." He led her to the other side to look at it.

"This is a moonlit landscape. It's so beautiful and amazing. How did those skilled craftsmen make it? How did they come up with the idea? Where did you find such a good treasure?" Ling Dang admired it from side to side. Once again, I took the beads and watched them carefully with unfinished thoughts. The characters and scenery inside were vivid, as if I was immersed in the scene.

"I met it by chance. It was made by a craftsman from the Northern Territory."

Ling Dang was startled when he heard this. He suppressed the doubts welling up in his heart and pretended not to know. He raised his face and asked him, "Northern Territory?"

Did the Northern Kingdom come to Ling Huai so early?

"Yeah." Ling Huai nodded.

Um? Gone? Keep talking, why don't you say it again?

Ling Dang scratched his head in his heart. After waiting for a long time, he didn't say anything, so he had to pretend to be confused and continue to spin the beads to look at the wood carvings.

"Ah Dang." He suddenly called her again.

"Huh?" Her eyes were bright, thinking that he couldn't help but tell her about his life experience.

"It's okay." He smiled gently, and the candlelight fell in his eyes like a cluster of flames, "I just want to talk to you."

"Oh." Then you say it. She stopped talking mid-sentence, which made her feel itchy like a cat scratching her heart. "You don't call me fourth sister anymore."

"If you mind, I can change my story."

"It's just a name, I don't mind. It's just that the third sister will have an opinion when she hears it. You said you should say those words well to make her jealous, but now it's better to keep me at home to learn how to behave like a lady, play music, chess, calligraphy and painting. . The key point is that I am not that material at all. I was born with a muddy leg. No matter how much I pretend, I can’t pretend to be a wealthy lady." Ling Dang poured out his bitterness and stretched out his fingers to outline the lantern in the picture.

"If you don't like it, I'll just stop talking about it in the future."

Ling Dang heard that his words were wrong and immediately turned to look at him. Sure enough, he saw him lowering his eyelashes and looking lonely, which was really pitiful.

She recalled that he didn't know when he knew that he was not a member of the Ling family. Now he had no relatives and was dependent on others. His mind was sensitive and worried. She didn't know what messy things he would think about and make him sad. He hurriedly explained: "I don't mean to blame you, it's just because I'm tired of learning those things every day, so I just made a few complaints in private. I really don't mean anything else, so don't think too much about it."

He smiled, his lips were red and his teeth were white, he looked so good-looking.

Ling Dang's eyes wandered for a moment, and then he thought about his identity as the protagonist in the book, and he had a lot of confidante in the future. He immediately became alert and quickly picked up the beads to divert his attention.

Be sure to stay awake and don't be deceived by his innocent and harmless appearance. He is a top strategist who wants to guide the country and play tricks on people's hearts.

No matter how young you are, you can’t take it lightly.

She is really walking on thin ice in this house, fearing that a group of men in black will break in in the middle of the night and kill them randomly. It is impossible for the protagonists to get into trouble, but as a passerby, this is not necessarily the case, and she may become cannon fodder one day.

"Ah Dang?" He had called her several times.

"Ah, huh?" Ling Dang came to his senses.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, I'm thinking about Acen."

Her random words were interrupted by him.

He said: "Can we not mention Acen at this time?"

"Oh, okay." She handed him the beads, "Do you want to see them?"

"Look. If you like it, I'll give it to you. Use it to relieve your boredom when you're upset."

She couldn't afford to keep such a good treasure. Seeing it once was an eye-opener. Ling Dang declined: "No, the third sister will question her if she sees it. If I want to see it in the future, I can come directly to your room."

There was a burst of firecrackers outside the house.

Lingdang said: "It seems that the banquet has begun."

Ling Huai watched as she walked out of the courtyard with her skirt lifted up and her head out. Her back was vivid, as if she had returned to the previous life. She carried the lady in charge of the building behind her back, met him in private, and then left in a hurry.

At that time, her eyebrows had already grown. She was trapped in a brothel and in order to protect herself, she used medicine all year round to destroy her true appearance. Tingting's figure couldn't change, so she hunched over her breasts and imitated the old woman. And because of years of doing chores and washing, the palms and fingers are covered with calluses. When the weather gets cold, the hands are covered with scabs.

At that time, he returned to the Northern Territory for the first time and was granted the title of King of Huainan. He had an empty reputation and was faced with enemies on all sides. He was hampered by others and his foundation was unstable. Some people want to put him to death, others want to make the best use of him. He has no one to use, let alone anyone to trust. He acts like a puppet and meets her at the right time.

Back then, they did not leave Ganzhou City so early.

He was dragged until Ling Qiong was forced to get into a sedan chair, and he fought for his life to escape the marriage. The army was defeated, Cangyu City fell, and the Northern Territory turned to attack Ganzhou City, causing a large number of refugees to flood into the city, starving to death everywhere, corpses piled up, and the plague became rampant.

The officers and soldiers in Ganzhou City wanted to seize strong men and send them into the army. Ling Feng threw himself into the camp. Master Xu protected Ling Jing and her four children as they fled in a panic.

Fortunately, he met Ling Qiong who was running away from his marriage on the way. He never thought that after all the hard work of escaping from the city, he would lose her, Ling Cen and Ling An.

Since then they have been separated and no news has been heard from them.

Unexpectedly, she was sold by a trafficker to the fireworks alleys in the Northern Territory, where she disfigured herself and became a low-class slave.

She taught him how to see the shadow sculptures.

She took him to the flower house to see the rare things, and said: "We hired craftsmen to build a new building for the first lady, and a clever master came. His family used to be a juggler for the prince and grandson, and he supported his family by his vivid wood carvings. Shadow carving is a unique skill he created by himself and is not spread to others. Doesn’t it look good?”

"Well, it's rare."

"Hey, it's just a pity that the master has an eye problem and can't see how beautiful the things he carved are."

"What a pity." He accompanied her and was shocked that a blind person could have such exquisite craftsmanship, and even more regretful that he could not see.

"I feel sorry for the master, but the master said that he was a blessing in disguise. He said that he was blind and not blind, so he conceived the unique art of shadow carving. He also lamented that people in the world are not blind, but they use beads to appreciate the glimmering lights in all directions. It is true that they have eyes but not beads. And blind people , observe things with your hands, and whatever you think in your heart, you will see scenery everywhere. The master is really a wonderful person, an astonishing talent."

"You are also a wonderful person. I am happy to say that you are ignorant."

She pretends to be dull and confused on the surface, but in fact she is smart and cheerful. She loves to join in the fun, listen to strange things, and pick up strange things. It's hard not to be selfish when meeting her, but he is weak and unable to protect her, and he wants to keep her, hiding her for various reasons.

Ling Jing always scolded him for pretending to hide his evil intentions.

He doesn't deny it, he still has evil intentions.

As soon as the banquet ended, Ling Dang clearly felt that his family was busier than before. The house was cleaned from top to bottom, the furniture was dried, the granary and cellar were stocked with grain, and an empty room was packed with boxes of medicinal materials and a cabinet full of pills.

The flowers and plants planted in the garden were replaced with seasonal vegetables, melons and fruits. The maids and women took turns burning mugwort. The corners of the inner rooms and even the corners were sprinkled with plant ashes.

From time to time, businessmen would come in and out to discuss matters with Ling Qiong, but she was so busy that no one was seen all day long. Sometimes Ling Dang would catch her and Ling Jing whispering in the accounting room.

One time, I pretended to pass by the door of Ling Jing's house and vaguely heard them say the word "mother".

mother?
Why mention Mr. Li for no reason?
More than a month later, Lingdang learned from the maid that Cangyu City had been lost.

She repeatedly confirmed: "Really defeated?"

The maid firmly said: "We have lost."

Zhou State was defeated and the envoy went to the Northern Territory State to negotiate peace. The other party asked the princess to marry.

But the imperial court of the Zhou Kingdom could not find a princess of the right age.

There were five princes and nine princesses in the Zhou Kingdom. Among the adult princesses, there was only one married eldest princess, who was born to Queen Mingde. The oldest of the remaining unmarried princesses is only ten years old.

Empress Mingde died young, and she and the emperor were a young couple who shared joys and sorrows together. The emperor was nostalgic for the past and has not yet established a new empress. She only had her first son when she was over forty. The deep love between emperors and empresses is a good story, but it is not a good thing for Jiangshan Sheji.

On the surface, there are a lot of princesses and princes in Zhou Kingdom, and they have many heirs, but they are all still children. Moreover, the current emperor was not born into a noble family. He was just a commoner and made his fortune by leading troops to fight and suppress rebellions. It has only been three years since he took the throne. He is already old, and there are some tricks in getting the throne. The civil servants and military generals are not united, the court is turbulent, and the war is endless. The heirs are weak, which is a kind of national destiny.

Ling Dang didn't worry about the emperor's family or who would get married, and it had nothing to do with her. She was just subconsciously worried about Ling Feng who was fighting outside.

Then came the plague in Ganzhou City, causing drought and famine in various places.

Ling Dang inadvertently thought of the medicinal materials stored in the house and the smell of mugwort smoke all over the house, and couldn't help but mutter: Ling Qiong is so well-informed about business? Are defeats, plagues, and famines known as soon as they come?
Worrying about something, she tossed and turned at night and couldn't sleep.

"Fourth girl? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?" The maid lit the lamp and looked at her.

"I'm fine, I'm a little bored. I want to get some fresh air. You continue to sleep and leave the light on." Ling Dang simply got out of bed, put on a coat and went to the corridor on the second floor to sit in trance.

After a while, Ling Jing came over with her clothes on, stroking her hair and said, "Are you worried about the second brother? Don't worry, the second brother will be fine. He will come back safely."

Ling Dang leaned his head on Ling Jing's shoulder and murmured: "When will this battle be over?"

Some regret that when I read the book, I just skimmed it and only remembered a rough outline. Now my mind is filled with the ending of Ling Feng running out of ammunition and food and being killed on the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)