in spring

Chapter 23 Road Encounters
Widow Cui left without saying anything, Chunying was baffled, turned around and continued cutting cucumbers, and then suddenly thought: She is planning to ask Miss Cui's family to find an errand for her, right?
This thought scared Chunying almost to cut her finger, she threw away the kitchen knife and ran to Cui's house, calling repeatedly: "Aunt Cui, Aunt Cui!" But she was not in the house, and she did not know where to go where.

Lu's mother came in from the courtyard with a bundle in her arms, and frowned when she saw this, "What did you tell her to do? Standing in front of her house for a while longer will bring bad luck! Why don't you go back soon?!"

Chunying hurriedly dragged her back to the house, repeated what Widow Cui said just now, and asked again: "Mother, what does she mean by this? Will she... Will she ask Sister Cui to find a way to get me out of here?" Go into the mansion?"

Mother Lu smiled disdainfully: "If the mother and daughter of the Cui family have this ability, they wouldn't need to hurt you in the first place! Don't listen to her nonsense, I don't know what I want to do!" I just came back from the embroidery room and took on a new job. I heard that a lady from a family official is going to get married, so I asked the embroidery room to do some work such as chairs, tea surrounds, bed curtains, embroidery curtains, etc. I can't do those, so I took it A few scarves and shoe uppers to make. Tsk tsk, I don’t know whose family’s lady is, the dowry is so particular, and the embroidery patterns are divided into four seasons, and even the color of the material..."

Chunying didn't listen to her rambling, and was still a little worried.Although the Cui family's mother and daughter are incapable, Miss Cui is now the third young master's maid. Could it be that she has gained a certain amount of power and can give advice to the housekeeper?Back then, the eldest sister, Qiuyu, found a job for her younger sister only after she was promoted to the second-class maid.

She was thinking here and there, and Mother Lu said that she hadn't seen her daughter for a long time, and agreed with her. When she looked up and saw her in a daze, she slapped her: "Why are you so stupid?! Then what is Sister Cui Man capable of? If she can really help you It’s really lacking, you just go! There are a lot of third-class little girls in the house, what kind of thing does she think she is?!”

Chunying rubbed her forehead, thinking that what the old lady said made sense, besides, why did Miss Cui help her?Their relationship is almost half-enemies, right?

Thinking of this, Chunying stopped worrying and went back to cut cucumbers.

These days are peaceful, Chunying embroiders, cooks, does laundry, takes care of her younger brother, delivers meals to her father every day, and occasionally flips through the Datong calendar.Although she didn't want to find out what kind of world this place was for a long time, but as a recreational book, this almanac is still interesting, and she couldn't find any other books anyway.Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single bookstore around Li’s Qingguohou Mansion, which is famous for its heirlooms of poetry and books. According to Mama Lu’s recollection, there used to be two or three of them, but they all disappeared one by one in the past twenty years.

One day at noon, Chunying came back from delivering food at the gate, and it was already past the meal time.The sun was clearly not high, but the air was filled with a damp and heavy atmosphere, which made people feel very uncomfortable and a little out of breath.Chunying guessed that it might be raining soon.

The road was quiet, only occasionally one or two people hurried past with their hands shielded from the sun, and in the nearby shops, the clerks fell listlessly on the counters and took a nap.Chunying held the basket in one hand and fanned the wind with the other. Seeing that the sky was a little gloomy, she gave up the idea of ​​going to take care of the second uncle's courtyard and visit the bookstores in that area.

Just turning into the back street, she saw a person sitting on a rock under a tree on the street, resting against the tree trunk with his eyes closed.She recognized that it was the mustache that she had met three times, and seeing that his complexion was not very good, it was pale and pale under the sun, so she hurried over and whispered: "Young Master, Young Master? Why are you sitting here?"

Mustache moved, opened his eyes to look at her, then narrowed his eyes again: "You are..."

Chunying smiled: "You don't recognize me? My surname is Lu. You gave me a carp lantern at the Lantern Festival Lantern Market. And last time when someone bullied my mother, it was you who asked your servant to speak for my mother." Yes." She looked up and looked around: "Why are you here alone? Where's your servant?"

"Mohan?" Mustache seemed a little confused, "Ah...he sent Li Xu back..." He stared at Chunying for a long time before slowly nodding: "I remember... the grassy firefly, Yes or no?"

Chunying felt that something was wrong with him: "Do you feel uncomfortable?" She took two steps closer and smelled the alcohol on his body: "Are you drunk?"

"Drunk? I'm not drunk!" Mustache suddenly waved his hand, "I'm fine! I'm happy! Xiao Li... finally got rid of it, got rid of it! I'm happy for him..." At this point, his head drooped again go down.

This is not drunk?Chunying curled her lips, looked left and right for nothing useful, then pulled out a handkerchief to fan him: "Since your servant is not here, do you have any other servants? It's sweltering today, why are you sitting here like this?" , the canopy of this tree is not big, it will suffer from heat stroke.”

"I'm fine..." Mustache sniffed, and suddenly burst into tears silently, "Xiao Li is leaving, going to the south... He got rid of it, what about me? He has a good aunt and brother, and he can still earn money." What about me?"

Chunying couldn't understand: "What did you say?"

But the mustache just shed tears, looking at his condition, it seems that he is still not sober.Chunying was a little at a loss, and wanted to borrow a handkerchief to wipe him a couple of times, but she was worried that this was in ancient times, and the etiquette and rules were relatively strict, which seemed inappropriate, but seeing this man crying all the time, she felt a little sad: "Don't cry... There are always sad things in this world, just think about it..." It was sad enough for her to travel through without incident, and she became a married child, isn't it even worse?But she still wants to live?

"Second Young Master, Second Young Master..." The boy's shout came from a distance, which startled Chun Ying, and immediately jumped away to look left and right.Where is the second young master? !Wait for her to run away——

"Second Young Master!" The young man ran closer, but it was the boy whom he had met last time, "Why are you sitting here? You've got your clothes dirty!"

Wasn't he the Second Young Master of the Hou Mansion?Chun Ying breathed a sigh of relief, and asked, "Are you this young master's servant? I'm the daughter of the Lu family you met last time. The young master seems to be drunk and not quite sober."

The young man looked annoyed: "Sure enough, I'm still drunk—thank you, little girl." He bent down and said to the mustache, "Second young master, you always say that you can drink a lot, and when Master Xu persuades you, you drink a cup of wine." Guan, you even coaxed me away in the end. If something happens to you here alone, don’t want this life, little one!”

The mustache had wiped away the tears on his face at some point, and said drowsily, "Nonsense... how can anyone blame you? Maybe there will be a reward!"

The young man opened his mouth, and after a while he whispered: "The second young master said this, and the master heard it, wouldn't it be sad? The second young master just ignore other people's gossip." After speaking, he took his arm and thought He wanted to help him stand up, but Xiao Huzi staggered and almost fell down after taking two steps.The boy was still young and lacked strength, and was almost dragged down by him, so he had to hold on desperately, turning his head and begging Chunying, "little girl, please call us a carriage..."

Chunying worriedly watched the little mustache swaying from side to side, hurriedly nodded, turned around and planned to walk down the street, but heard a wow behind him, the mustache had already vomited dirt all over the floor, and even the servant's There were a few spots on the clothes, and it smelled sour for a while.But Mustache seemed to have lost his strength, and his whole body softened.

The servant stomped anxiously: "What should we do? Second Young Master? Second Young Master? Let's go to Master Xu's house to rest for a while? How can you walk like this?"

Chunying hurriedly said: "Why don't you go to my yard? It's not far in front. I still have hangover soup at home." That's for my father.

The little servant pondered for a while, and then agreed: "I have troubled the little girl so much, please lead the way."

Chunying hurriedly led them back to the yard where her home was. Because her mother was sleeping in the house, she didn't dare to bring them in, so she borrowed a bamboo recliner from Ma's house and put it under the shade of the tree so that He lay down and poured wine soup to the boy.

The boy was fanning his master with a big sunflower fan, hurriedly took the soup, smelled it twice, then fed the mustache to drink, then heaved a sigh of relief, smiled and said to Chunying: "Thank you, little girl, If it weren't for you, I still don't know what to do."

Chunying smiled and waved her hands: "You guys helped me last time, of course I have to repay, yes, um... this little brother..." The servant hurriedly said: "My name is Mo Han." "Then Mo Han Brother Han, your young master was drunk just now, and seemed to be sitting under a tree for a long time, his face was strangely pale, I'm afraid he might be suffering from heat stroke, do you...have you brought any medicine with you..." Chunying vaguely remembered that ancient times Young masters and ladies will carry some similar things in their sachets for backup.

Mo Han was reminded by her, so he hurriedly searched the sachet on Mustache's waist, and found two pills, smelled it, and fed him one.Chunying went to the kitchen to get some salt and boiled it for nothing, and also fetched well water to wash Moustache's face.

Lu's mother just woke up, heard the sound, hurriedly cleaned up, came out and asked her daughter: "Why did you invite an outsider in?"

Chun Ying hurriedly said: "It was the young master who spoke for us when Mrs. Wu came to make trouble last time. He was drunk and vomited outside just now. I'm worried that he may have suffered from heat stroke."

After hearing this, Mother Lu hurried back to the house and took out a small porcelain bottle: "Use this to wipe his forehead, this is medicated oil to cool off the heat."

When Mo Han heard it in the courtyard, he smiled and said loudly: "Don't bother Auntie, I just gave the second young master some heat-relief medicine, I'm afraid it will be all right after a while."

"It's rare for a distinguished guest to come, how can you neglect it?" Lu's mother brought out a few more teas and fruit, and exchanged another tea, "Chun'er is young and doesn't know the rules, how can he treat guests with plain water? This drunk is all because It will be uncomfortable if you drink too much for a while and you are on an empty stomach. If the young master doesn't dislike it, please give me a face. This is a good tea bought by Chun'er's uncle. Our family has never been willing to drink it. These snacks are also our own. It's pretty clean."

Mo Han glanced at it and saw that the tea and snacks were not the usual common goods outside. He nodded secretly, but only took the tea: "Thank you, auntie, but the young master has just taken the medicine and drank a lot of water. If you drink it again, I'm afraid you will have a stomachache." But I'm thirsty, begging my aunt to give me a cup?" Chunying smiled and poured him a cup.He took a sip, and then boasted a few words: "As expected, it is the Mansion of the Marquis of the Kingdom of Qing, even the people below drink nothing ordinary, much better than what we drink at home."

Lu's mother smiled triumphantly, seeing that he was handsome and pleasant to speak, and he was only two or three years older than Chunying, so she took him to sit aside and talked, asking him about his age, where his parents were from, and where his host was. Last name.It was only then that Chunying found out that Xiao Huzi's surname was Hu, and his family was not simple. He was an imperial merchant who was in charge of purchasing jewelry.

This Mr. Hu was in a daze for a while, and gradually woke up, but he was still a little confused. Mo Han hurriedly went up to wait for him to wash his face, and then he became more awake. Hearing the servant's whispered return, his face immediately flushed : "This... this is really rude..."

Lu's mother hurriedly said it was nothing, and invited him to tea.But Mr. Hu couldn't sit still with shame on his face, and saw that the sky was getting darker, so he left quickly, and whispered to Mo Han to remember the address.

Chunying tidied up the tea set, and heard her mother laughing softly beside her, "I thought he was really an old man, but when I got closer today, I realized that he was actually a child."

Chunying was a little surprised: "How do you say that?"

"It's just that he has a beard, but his face is fair and tender. Look at his hands, they haven't grown up yet. I'm afraid he's just a little bigger than your sister." Mother Lu lifted up the bamboo chair and wanted to return it, but suddenly found something on the chair, "Oh , Is this what they left behind?"

Chunying saw that it was that sachet. Although it was half old, it was embroidered well, and it was decorated with a piece of jade, green and verdant. It was not cheap at first sight.She hurriedly took the sachet and ran towards the direction where the master and servant left.

(PK tickets are urgent, please ask for pink tickets~~~>_<)

(End of this chapter)