Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 172 Breathing and Walking Rivers (3)

Li Ruoxue bought fresh ingredients in the small village next to the scholar's mansion, and was busy in the kitchen, spooning soup with bare hands.Not long after, the courtyard was filled with fragrance, and it floated to the study, making Zhao Xingde's index finger twitch, and he swallowed a lot of saliva.At lunch time, grilled sheep tail, stuffed crab and orange, ginger and cinnamon shepherd's purse, fern weed mixed with vinegar, and yunying noodles were served on the table one by one.

Li Ruoxue herself had a very small appetite, and after eating a small bowl of rice, Zhi Yi watched Zhao Xingde gobble it up with a smile.Zhao Xingde was already hungry, and at this moment his index finger twitched, and within a short time, he swept away all the dishes on the dinner table.Finally, rubbing her belly, meeting Ruoxue's questioning eyes, she exaggeratedly sighed: "Three years, I have never eaten so full." After speaking, he rolled up his sleeves and demanded to wash the dishes.But Li Ruoxue kicked him out on the grounds that "a gentleman stays away from the kitchen", and asked him to take a warm bath in the afternoon sun and boil a bucket of hot water to wash away the dust.

"I just washed it at the post station the day before yesterday." Zhao Xingde smiled, and hugged Li Ruoxue to his chest, "If you don't believe me, you can hear it."

Smelling the masculine breath on his body, Li Ruoxue blushed slightly, pushed his chest, and said coquettishly: "Go, go." Zhao Xingde just accepted the order and left.Lift the well water into the large pottery tank in the bathroom, light the charcoal, and when the water is hot, put the hot water into the wooden barrel, take off your clothes, and jump in.When marching, the sergeants thought it was troublesome. Even in the weather when the dripping water turned into ice, they would bathe in cold water, and even scrub with ice and snow hastily.Boiling hot water for a bath like this is a special treatment only available at home.

Zhao Xingde soaked in the steaming hot water, and the sun shone through the skylight in the bathroom, just shining on him.Although it is winter, it is not so cold, but I feel very comfortable.He couldn't help but think of an allusion he saw in Lumei. 400 years ago, the great King Alexander went to meet a man sitting in a bathtub basking in the sun, and proudly declared to him that if he wanted anything, the king would give it to him. But as he wished, unexpectedly this person replied: Your Majesty, I only hope that you move your steps so as not to block the sunlight. "Our country also has the wisdom of wild old people to offer exposure. It can be seen that basking in the sun is a great enjoyment in life." Zhao Xingde felt refreshed all over his body, humming a little tune, rubbing his body with soap locust soap, while admiring medium view.

This house was built in accordance with the construction procedures promulgated by Xia Guo's Scholars' Mansion.In order to prevent water leakage, the kitchen is separated from other houses, and combustible objects such as vegetation should not be piled up around.The bathroom is also built in a separate wooden house. The bathtub is placed high on the wooden frame, and the pottery tank for boiling water is higher than the bathtub.To fetch water and take a bath, you have to step up the stairs. A bamboo pipe is connected to the bottom of the tub. After bathing, unplug the plug, and the reclaimed water can be used to flush the toilet.The bottom of the ceramic toilet leads to the golden juice pool, and the built chamber of commerce takes out the golden juice regularly and sells it to farmers to irrigate the fields.

Through the bathroom window, Zhao Xingde saw Li Ruoxue coming out of the kitchen, carrying a wooden box, walking towards the bathroom, he couldn't help feeling hot, and deliberately removed the hot towel on his shoulders, revealing a strong Muscle, not long, they heard the sound of stairs.Li Ruoxue saw him sitting naked in the bathtub, feeling confident, smiling and looking at her, she couldn't help but blushed slightly, and spat: "No one is right."

Zhao Xingde pretended to be surprised and said: "Didn't the lady come to see me specially?" He made a gesture to stand up.

Li Ruoxue was so ashamed that she quickly put down the wooden box, waved her hands, and said repeatedly: "Sit down quickly." Afraid that Zhao Xingde would make trouble again, she squatted down, opened the wooden box, took out a razor, and said softly: "Don't move." Apply a cool oil on Zhao Xingde's face, and then carefully shave off the stubble on his face.Because long beards hinder tidiness, in order to behave neatly, the General's Mansion restricts the beards of sergeants to no more than half an inch.As a result, a "bearded man" with a fluttering long beard is rare in the entire Xia Kingdom.At this time, few household mirrors can clearly reflect the figure.When going abroad, the sergeants shave their beards by themselves, which will inevitably leave a mess of stubble on their faces.At home, it is the responsibility of the wife to shave and groom her husband.

Zhao Xingde felt the gentle touch on his face, the sunlight shone in through the bathroom window, her fingers were like transparent suet white jade, and he couldn't help feeling hot.He smiled and said, "Madam is coming too." He raised his hand from the barrel, and was about to hug her shoulder.

Li Ruoxue's pretty face was flushed, her willow eyebrows were slightly erected, she raised the razor and shook it in front of him, and said softly, "Don't move." She carefully shaved off Zhao Xingde's thick and hard stubble, and then looked at it seriously After looking at it, he said with a smile: "With a beard on his lips, he looks more heroic." Zhao Xingde 'touched' the short beard on his lips, and said with a smile: "Really?"

"En." Li Ruoxue nodded seriously.At this time, the atmosphere between the husband and wife was not as awkward as it was just now, her eyes fell on Zhao Xingde, and she saw no less than a dozen large and small scars, the scar on the arm was the most hideous and terrifying, she couldn't help showing love and compassion .Sitting in the bathtub, Zhao Xingde felt at ease. Seeing Li Ruoxue looking there, he couldn't help laughing and said, "This is when he was wounded by a poisonous arrow in the Kang Kingdom when he exterminated bandits. In fact, the wound was very small at that time, but the poison was severe. , had to cut off the festering flesh, but finally saved his life." He told Li Ruoxue the origin of those big scars one by one.These are all interesting stories in Zhao Xingde's view, but he never mentioned them in his family letter.

Li Ruoxue caressed the scar on his arm that was winding like a centipede, she was about to cry, and said in a low voice: "Will you still go to war?" Use the most interesting language to describe your personal experience.However, Li Ruoxue keenly discovered that the war in Zhao Xingde's description seemed to have a kind of attraction.

Zhao Xingde held her catkins in his hands, and said in a deep voice: "From now on, I will stay by your side." He paused, then laughed again: "There are three unfilial acts, and the greatest thing is to have no descendants. The most important thing is Give birth to a baby." Before leaving Lumei, he raised the matter with Duan Huaixian, the school lieutenant, Duan Huaixian said he would help, saying that Zhao De had no heirs and had already been in the army for three years. According to the imperial edict, the military government would not let him and his family Long separation.At worst, you can retire with a title of knighthood upon the expiration of your service period.

Li Ruoxue blushed pretty, pulled her soft pancreas out of his big hand, and was about to scold her, when she heard a woman's voice outside the courtyard door asking: "Is Mrs. Zhao at home?"

A strange look appeared on Zhao Xingde's face, Li Ruoxue explained in a low voice: "It's the Lingwu." Turning around in a hurry, as if fleeing down the stairs, Zhao Xingde smiled when he saw her neck flushed with shame.When guests came to visit, he naturally couldn't take a bath carelessly, so he climbed out of the bathtub, dried his hair and body, tied his hair in a bun, and put on the clean robes Li Ruoxue prepared for him.

When I came to the main hall, I saw three women sitting together affectionately. Both Zhu Lingwu and Sun Xiaolian stood up to check their lapels as a gift. Zhu Lingwu looked reserved, while Sun Xiaolian looked at him curiously.Although Zhao Xingde had met these two women several times, but he hadn't returned home for three years, Li Ruoxue still made an introduction.The three daughters were chatting sweetly in the boudoir, Zhao Xingde sat with the prime minister, feeling extremely bored in his heart, he still had a smile on his face and nodded frequently.In the end, Li Ruoxue couldn't stand it anymore, and asked him to visit his friend Li Rui, and then go home for dinner at dusk, then Zhao Xingde got up to say goodbye with apology, walked out the door, patted his chest just now, and let out a long breath.

Watching the back of Zhao Xingde's departure, Zhu Lingwu said with a soft smile: "Mr. Zhao is really good-tempered, just now he kept laughing, I wonder if his jaw is stiff?" In the past three years, she has gradually come out of the grief of mourning the passing away. It was cold as ice, and when Li Ruxue and the others were alone, they already smiled.

Sun Xiaolian also smiled and said, "My wife is so lucky. The Zhao army envoy has been on the expedition for three years, and he doesn't need to go out to the garrison recently." Sun Xiaolian's mother is Gu Shi, the proprietress of Sun Jixiang's medicine shop.Under the arrangement of her mother, Sun Xiaolian has been learning some poetry and prose from Li Ruoxue.So neither she nor Zhu Lingwu called Li Ruoxue "sister", but only Mrs. Zhao.Most of the women in Xia State hope to marry young soldiers.It is also well known that Xia Guo has a family sergeant who has been in the garrison for three years and arranges for him to reunite with his family.In the eyes of the Sun family, Li Ruoxue's marriage to the centurion Zhao De is the real man and woman, and they are a perfect match.

The two praised their husbands, and the hostess was more happy than they praised herself, with a happy smile on her face.Li Ruoxue was stewing camphor seeds in the kitchen.When she got up to look at the fire, Zhu Lingwu joked to Sun Xiaolian: "Your master usually seems to be indifferent to human fireworks, but now you have lost your mind and fell into the mortal world." Sun Xiaolian nodded and laughed softly. "Yeah, I look like this, don't say I'm an envoy of Zhao Jun. If I were a man, I would be tempted." Zhu Lingwu took her words and said with a smile: "Okay, you don't respect the teacher. Said." Sun Xiaolian coquettishly refused.

The two were laughing and chatting, when Li Ruoxue came back, she wondered: "What's so funny?" Sun Xiaolian was her disciple, so she didn't dare to speak casually, but Zhu Lingwu said with a smile: "We are talking, There are new blooms in this yard, very pretty." Li Ruoxue said with a smile: "These plum trees bloomed even more when you came the day before yesterday." Zhu Lingwu shook his head slightly, and said with a narrow smile: "I didn't mean that Plum blossoms." Li Ruoxue had just come to her senses, and she was ashamed and annoyed, and spat: "I think it's because of the heart, the flowers bloom in the heart, and the flowers bloom in the eyes." Before Zhu Lingwu came back to his senses, he asked Sun Xiaolian again: "Mr. Chen, have you visited the residence recently?" Sun Xiaolian looked at Li Ruoxue and then at Zhu Lingwu, opened her eyes wide, shook her head and sighed, "It's been a long time."

"Oh?" Li Ruoxue's eyes flickered slightly, and she asked suspiciously, "No way?"

However, Sun Xiaolian smiled, ignored Zhu Lingwu's gesture to stop her, and continued, "But he asked me to pass on a ticket for Liyuan to Sister Lingwu." She paused, sighed seriously, and frowned. "But I think sister Lingwu doesn't seem to be free all the time." Zhu Lingwu was ashamed, and said angrily, "I've been chewing my tongue indiscriminately since I was young, and see if my uncle will marry you off sooner." Stretching out his hand to tear Sun Xiaolian hid her mouth and said with a smile, "As a big sister, if you want to marry, you should marry first." For a while, the Zhao family's courtyard was full of singing and singing, and it was very lively.