Ma Erniang's Splendid Pastoral

Chapter 188 When the wedding is in progress ([-])
Ma Min'er didn't expect that even if it was backgammon, the old man would not let her go. For a whole afternoon, in the next game, she lost a game, but the old man never tired of it.

Seeing that the sky was full of sunset and the sky was getting dark, she was so tired that she lay down on the table, "I can't let it go, I can't let it go."

"Come on, little benefactor, look, at the beginning, you lost a game in the blink of an eye, and now you can last for three quarters of an hour, which is a great improvement." The old man smiled.

"Mother!" Ma Min'er covered her face with her hands, "Master, can I tell the truth?"

"What truth?"

"It's not that the skill can last for three quarters of an hour, but that I have become smarter, so I deliberately delayed it for three quarters of an hour."

"..."

Looking at the master whose eyes were wide open for a long time, Ma Min'er squeezed out a smile: "Master, it's getting cold at night, and the mountain wind is quite strong, why don't we go into the house, and I'll make something delicious for you to eat, I'm good at this."

"delicious?"

Ma Miner nodded.

"Then why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Uh, blame me, you didn't give me a chance again?But Ma Min'er didn't dare to say this, and smiled courteously: "Master, what do you want to eat?"

"I'm getting older and my teeth are bad, so I want to eat something soft."

"Okay, I'll go to the kitchen to see what ingredients are available, and I'll cook you soft and delicious meals."

The old man nodded.

Ma Min'er hurried into the small kitchen, "Brother, what ingredients do you have?"

The little boy was lighting the stove, and he pointed with his other finger, "I went around the mountain in the afternoon, and they were all there."

Ma Miner followed his gaze and saw that there were some wild vegetables, wild bird eggs, and some mushrooms. She reached out and took out a bunch of mushrooms and asked, "Could it be chicken fir?"

"Yes, little lady."

"Oh my God, there is chicken fir!" Ma Miner exclaimed, and immediately thought of a simple and delicious recipe in her mind, and saw two fat-headed fish hanging on a wooden hook by a straw rope, and thought of the tofu soup for lunch , I went to look for it right away, and sure enough, there was tofu in the wooden basin next to it. After thinking about it, I knew what I was doing at night.

Qingyufang in the night looks no different from ordinary mansions from a distance, but when you approach slowly, you can see the lanterns hanging in front of the door, the soft laughter coming through the high walls, and the leisurely The sound of silk and bamboo is so refreshing, it is really a house-style private workshop.

Xia Zhen hung a big sword on her waist, wore a regular robe, and had a jade crown on her hair. She stood at the gate of the courtyard, looked up at the private workshop without a plaque, her whole body was colder than the autumn moon, and Xiao Xiaoqi rushed towards her face.

The doorman of Qingyufang bowed down and stepped forward respectfully, "The King of Beijun——"

Xia Zhen still half looked up.

The doorman hadn't heard the voice of Beijun King for a long time, so he raised his eyes quietly, looked at him, and found that he was staring at the bright moon in the sky, he secretly calculated, today is September [-]th, and tomorrow will be half a month, no wonder the moon Big and round.

In a private room in Qingyufang, Liu Zaili's bodyguard hurried to his side: "Jun Wang, Bei Jun Wang is here."

Liu Zaili raised his eyes, but there was no one at the door.

"Jun Wang, he has been standing at the gate without moving."

not moving?Liu Zaili frowned slightly at the corners of his eyes.

"Junwang..." The dark guard's tone was a little irritable.

"What are you panicking about?" Liu Zaili picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked at the tea leaves in the cup with lowered eyelids.

"Jun Wang, Xia has been staring at us, and we can't move."

"What do you mean you can't move!" The sneer was all on the corner of Liu Zaili's slightly hooked mouth, "The one who can't move for the past two days is Xia Zi'an, not me. Why is his speech so unpleasant?"

"Yes... the king of the county." The dark guard secretly wiped his sweat, "Then we..."

"I'm in no hurry!"

"Your Majesty, Xia Zi'an's people have already searched the capital, and have already searched outside the capital."

"Then look for it." Liu Zaili said: "But don't worry, he must not have found it. If he found it, he would not come to the gate of Qingyufang."

At the gate of Qingyufang, Xiaowen saw the owner standing at the door, the doorman motioned several times but still did not move, could not help reminding: "My lord, do you want to go in?"

As if awakened by him, Xia Zhen suddenly turned around and left Qingyufang.

Xiaowen was startled, and hurriedly followed, "My lord..."

When the moon was rising, Ma Min'er's dinner was finally ready. She was the chef, and Xiao Tong helped her set up and light the fire. The two of them cooperated quite well. Two earthen stoves and one small clay stove were used. There are also kneaded and shredded noodles.

"Little benefactor, didn't you say that dinner is ready, why are there still noodles on the chopping board?"

Ma Miner smiled and said, "Let's eat the vegetables first, and put the noodles in the rest of the soup at the end."

"Eat vegetables?" The old man was puzzled, "Don't you want to eat?"

Ma Min'er said: "Yes, don't eat the staple food first, and eat the vegetables first."

The old man looked at the table full of raw wild vegetables, and there was a pot of fish head tofu soup on the small stove. How should he eat it?

"Master, please sit down—" Ma Min'er called out, "Little brother, you come and sit down too." She called and handed them chopsticks and small bowls.

The three of them did not sit at the small table, but sat around the small stove with empty bowls and chopsticks.

Ma Min'er gave them a demonstration, "Master, little brother, in the small plate on the side table, there is the chicken fir oil seasoning I boiled, you can scoop some and put it in a small bowl." Then put the wild vegetables into the boiling pot. In the fish head soup, rinse it, it will be cooked in a short while, take it out, put it in a small bowl of chicken fir oil seasoning, and dip it, "Oh, my God, the taste of chicken fir is so delicious, it goes well with fish The umami taste of the soup can really make people's eyebrows fall off."

Eyebrows fell out?Is it that exaggerated?Following Ma Min'er's example, the master also boiled wild vegetables, dipped them in chicken fir oil seasoning, and ate them all in one bite. The warm vegetables were so appropriate that it made people cry in the cool autumn night in the mountains.

"Master...Master...what's the matter with you? Did you burn yourself, I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." Ma Min'er stood up in a panic, at a loss what to do.

The fish head soup was gurgling and tumbling in the small stove, and the heat rose into the air, with the aroma of the food, bringing warmth. The master wiped away his tears with his sleeve, "This soup, this warmth, reminds me of 50 Years ago, when I was a child, my family was poor and there was nothing to eat. My mother caught a few small fish in a small ditch and cooked fish soup for me. It was also such a cold autumn night. , I feel that there is no warmer food than small fish soup, I can't think of today...today..."

"I'm sorry, master, for causing your sad past."

"Thinking of the past, I never feel sad, because my mother's small fish soup, I only have warmth in my heart!" The master stretched out his chopsticks to pick up the fish balls in the soup pot, and said, "I watch you busy with these small fish balls. After spending the whole night, your busy back looks like my young mother."

"Grandmaster--"

"She..." the master said: "The back view that remains in my mind will always be the appearance of her youth."

"I'm sorry, master..." Ma Min'er understood that the mother of the master passed away very young.

"You're not wrong." The calm old man said with a serious expression, "It's my fault."

"Master——" Ma Min'er understood the words, but also didn't understand. She looked at him and waited for him to speak again.

The old man didn't open his mouth, he scooped up a lot of fish balls with a small white spoon, dipped them in chicken fir oil and ate them slowly, as if he was enjoying the ultimate delicacy.

Ma Min'er took a deep breath, sat down on the small stool again, picked up chopsticks and ate dinner.

-

Inside Qingyufang, the secret guard stood beside Liu Zaili again, "Prince, Xia Zhen has left."

As if knowing the result, Liu Zaili narrowed his eyes and smiled: "I said earlier, he is more anxious than me."

-

When Zhuang Hao and Wei Ren heard the news from Jing Mo, they hurried to the gate of Qingyufang. Seeing the king of Beijun turned and left, they both secretly breathed a sigh of relief, looked at each other, and walked up to him to get into the carriage.

"My lord..." Zhuang Hao wanted to say something comforting, but moved his mouth, but he didn't know how to say it.

Wei Ren looked at the master with pale face and black lips, and took a deep breath.

They didn't speak, but Xia Zhen spoke up: "I don't know where Min'er is?"

"My lord, Ma Erniang is so smart, she might already be on her way back."

Xia Zhen raised her head suddenly: "On the way back?"

"That's right, my lord, Ma Erniang is the smartest little lady I've ever met. She must have gotten out of trouble and is already on her way back."

Xia Zhen closed her eyes, "I've been letting myself think this way, but it's been two nights and one day, where's her figure, where's her figure?" At the end it became a cry.

Zhuang Hao suppressed his emotions and analyzed: "Zian, if you are definitely the person Liu Zai left, then he must have used a secret way to work for the Holy One, otherwise it is impossible for people to disappear without a trace."

"Holy?"

"En." Zhuang Hao said: "Liu Zaili has always been the Holy Majesty's right-hand man, his hands and eyes are open to the sky, he wants to disappear alone, no one in this capital is more convenient than him."

Xia Zhen opened her eyes, "I'm going to ask the Holy One."

"My lord..."

"My lord..."

Both Zhuang and Wei exclaimed in unison.

After Na shouted, Xia Zhen looked sad, "For Min'er, I can ask anyone except Liu Zaili, and I can give them anything they want."

"My lord—" Wei Ren and Zhuang Hao were shocked, "but apart from Liu Zaili, you can only ask the Holy One, and if you come before the Holy One, then you..."

The implication is that even if Wei and Zhuang don't say anything, Xia Zhen also knows that he will be held in the hands of Emperor Yuantai, and he can negotiate any conditions.

"I can't control that much anymore, come..."

"My lord—" the two called out in unison.

"Turn the carriage to the palace."

"My lord, please think twice!" Wei Ren and Zhuang Hao stopped him together.

Xia Zhen's eyes were red, and she shouted, "Then what do you want me to do?"

That's right, what should he do if he has no wife to marry, but once he steps into the palace gate, what will happen to the Xia family, what will happen to the soldiers in the five northern prefectures?
The carriage stood motionless in the middle of the street.

-

Inside Qingyufang, the secret guard brought the news to Liu Zaili, "Your Majesty, Xia Zian's carriage is heading for the palace, but it stopped halfway."

"Stop?" Liu Zaili smiled lightly, "He can't go anywhere except to stop and go home."

-

The night in the mountains was getting dark quickly, and Xia Xiaoren didn't feel depressed because the night became dark. On the contrary, after the evening, the mist completely faded away, and she could finally see the mountain road clearly and find someone.

After finding the pine branches, she knocked the pine nuts and smashed the oil. She made a simple torch and headed up the mountain with 15 years of special training. Big wedding! If I don’t find it before noon tomorrow, I’ll jump off the cliff and kill myself.”

-

In the imperial palace, in front of Yuan Tai, there was no one except the hidden guards. His face was reflected by the jumping copper oil lamp, and he looked relaxed, "You said Xia Zhen finally left the palace?"

The dark waiter replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, after two nights and a day in the mansion, I finally left the mansion."

"Where did you go?"

"Sapphire Square."

Emperor Yuantai asked, "Whose place?"

"Hui Sheng is the princess's dowry restaurant."

"So I went to Yunyu's building."

"Yes, my lord."

"Have you met with Zili?" Emperor Yuantai asked again.

"Returning to the Holy Lord, the King of Beijun only stood at the gate of Qingyufang for a while, but did not enter the gate, and he did not see Liu Zaili."

Yuan Tai was slightly surprised: "We didn't meet at the door?"

"Yes, my lord."

Yuan Tai frowned: "Even in the civil society, if a man's wife is taken away by another man, he must fight to the death."

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is the case among the people."

Emperor Yuantai showed a smile on his face, "Two years ago, Xia Zian was still a hot-tempered Erhengzi. No matter what happened, he only knew how to rush forward, and he didn't care about the consequences. Why did he mature like this after two years? Are you not impulsive?" He sighed with regret.

The dark guard dared to show an expression, and reminded softly: "His carriage is parked in the middle of the street, motionless, but the direction of the horse's head is the palace."

"The direction of the imperial palace!" Emperor Yuantai sighed with a smile, "What is Zili doing? He actually picked up his fiancée. If you hadn't found out, I wouldn't have known he had such a hobby."

The dark guard bowed his head, not daring to speak.

Emperor Yuantai said inquiringly: "It's really strange, does Zili like Xia Zian's fiancee, or is there some festival between them?"

"Back... Back to the Holy Lord, I didn't find out during the holidays, but it's not the first time that Prince Yan County Lubei County King's fiancée."

"Uh..." What's the situation, Emperor Yuantai opened his gossip eyes wide.

"Your Majesty, do you still remember the matter that King Yan captured a little lady three years ago?"

"Is that little lady Xia Zhen's fiancée?"

"Yes, my lord."

Emperor Yuantai knew about this. When he was still the king of Jin, he sent Liu Zili to the north to investigate the collusion between the general of Xiangyang Mansion and the third child. Zili picked up a little lady on the way. Everyone thought she liked that Little lady, he is the only one who thinks that Zili is deceiving others, but now he strokes it again. Could it be that he really likes this little lady?

Seeing that His Majesty was contemplating and did not speak, the dark guard waited for a while and reminded softly, "My Majesty, it seems that the King of Beijun asked to come to you..."

Emperor Yuantai woke up from his contemplation, squinted his eyes and smiled: "I'm waiting for him to come and beg."

"Your Majesty... But the King of Yancheng County doesn't know that you already know about his tricks."

Emperor Yuantai squinted his eyes again and smiled: "Under the whole world, is it the land of the king, and the shore of the land, is it the minister of the king!"

The hidden guard didn't understand what Emperor Yuantai meant, "Your Majesty, the carriage has stopped, maybe it won't come."

Emperor Yuantai smiled resolutely: "As long as the direction is in the palace, as for whether it is tonight or tomorrow morning, I don't think there is much difference. What do you think?"

"What the Holy Majesty said is very true." The dark guard quickly agreed.

With a smile on his face, Emperor Yuantai calmly began to criticize the chapters.

No one knew how Xia Zhen spent the night, even he himself didn't know. After being persuaded by Zhuang Hao and Wei Ren, he remembered howling and screaming, but he couldn't remember the rest. When he came, the sky was bright, and he was lying on his bed. With a jerk, Li Yu immediately sat up, "Come here, come here..."

"Yes, yes..." Xiaowen hurried in with joy on his face.

joy?Xia Zhen seemed to be in a dream, "What are you laughing at?"

"Go back to the prince, the Ma family is here to send the dowry."

Xia Zhen frowned.

But Xiaowen continued on his own: "My lord, have you rested yet? Xi Po said that she wanted to make a bed (a woman who was blessed took 24 pairs of chopsticks and tied them with red threads, and put them under the groom's mat, saying ' bed')."

Xia Zhen swished out of bed, looked at Xiaowen, opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"My lord, are you worried about your wife?"

Xia Zhen nodded.

Xiaowen smiled and said, "Madam has returned to Mafu."

"What... what did you just say?" Xia Zhen shook Xiaowen's shoulders with both hands.

Xiaowen didn't smile back: "Madam has come back, so the Ma family sent a large dowry over."

Xia Zhen turned around and ran out, but was stopped by Jing Mo and Dayu, "My lord, tomorrow is the wedding day, you can't go to Ma's house."

"I'm going to see Min'er."

Jing Mo took out a letter from his pocket, "This is from Madam."

Xia Zhen snatched it over and immediately opened the letter: "Zian, seeing a letter is like meeting..." His hands trembled excitedly, "To make a long story short, I was taken captive to a small temple on Mount Erqiao, where I met Fa Master Kong, it was he who let me go. As soon as I left the small temple, Xia Xiaoren came to find me. I went back to the city with her. Now everything is fine. You don’t have to worry about it. I’m afraid you won’t believe me when I come back. I’ll give you the jade water drop , and wait until tomorrow night when the wedding ceremony is held, you will bring it to me personally, respectfully, your Min'er."

Jing Mo handed the jade water drop to Xia Zhen.

"Is she really back?"

"Yes, my lord." Jing Mo replied, "Just now I sent someone to inquire about the small temple in Erqiao Mountain. That master Fakong used to be a great monk in Xiangguo Temple. He didn't like to deal with rich people, so he chose a place. He set up his own family in a secluded place, Shengshang and Liu Zaili are very familiar with him, and they always go there several times a year."

Although Erqiao Mountain is not far from the Xiangguo Temple outside the capital, it is two hills. Xia Zhen squinted her eyes and looked down at Yushuidi. "Okay, as long as Min'er has nothing to do, I will be fine." nor.

Xiaowen saw that the master finally stopped, and hurried forward: "My lord, Madam heard that you haven't eaten for a few days, so I made soup for you. You should drink it while it's hot."

Xia Zhen nodded, put aside all the chores, and only said to herself, I want to get married.

On the streets of Beijing, from Dangui Lane in Nancheng to Wangfu in Beijun, there was a tight siege. Everyone was watching the woman move the dowry to the man's house. Another car, really luxurious.

The wealthy people sitting in the restaurant drinking tea didn't know the story between Ma, Xia and Liu Zaili. They talked with great interest about the dowry of Ma's family, and about the unspeakable wealth of the king of Beijun who was exposed by a thief. fiancée.

Liu Zaili came out of the palace, passed by the street, frowning deeply, no one is still getting married, could it be that he slapped his face to pretend to be fat, and made the wedding ceremony go down?

(End of this chapter)