As night fell, the lights in the mountain village lit up sparsely. A group of children were running around chasing each other on the threshing floor over the pond. The old farmer sitting by the house chatting was holding a
He used his tobacco pole and occasionally knocked on the bluestone steps beside him. Dongzhu and Geng Wewei also sat under the big tree by the pond for a while and chatted for a while.
"...Originally, I thought that this uncle was the weak-tempered person in the rumors, but the more I looked at it, the more I felt something was wrong. Of course, a scholar is still a scholar, but he has to look like this. Now in Jiangning
City, who doesn’t know that my uncle’s name is Ning Liheng? My boy is also studying in school now, and he was praised by Song Mao and Song Zhizhou last year. Tsk... My old Geng family has always been illiterate. If it weren’t for Su
Family, how could that kid have the chance to study and become literate? If it wasn’t for my uncle, how could that kid be praised by someone like Song Zhizhou..."
The mourning hall was noisy not far away. Guard Geng patted his thigh and talked about these things to the driver named Dongzhu.
"You don't know that my uncle is truly humble. He doesn't like to be in the limelight. He never goes out with prostitutes or drinks with those talented people who are seeking fame. He is really good to the second lady. Look at him.
Who are the people coming and going? Li Pin and Li Dexin, this is a real talent... How does he do in class? He never loses his temper or says a harsh word. As for those boys, they are also a little confused.
The rule is to read books well. Even so, they can read better than those boys before..."
"I, Geng Lie, am illiterate. I originally thought that my husband was strict. I was praised by Song Zhizhou last year, and I was very happy. Then one day when the boy came back and talked about what happened in class, I felt that something was wrong. Does your husband have a good temper?
I'm arguing with you guys. You guys can't help but hang yourself up and beat me up. Later, my uncle even made a special trip to tell me that it doesn't have to be like this. This is the magnanimity of a big man, to convince others with virtue.
, Conquer people with your talent and learning..."
"In the past, my husband was strict, and those boys were shaking their heads and studying, but it was useless. Now those boys are making trouble, but they are really convinced by this uncle. They talk to people all day long just because of what the teacher said, and what our husband said, haha,
There were a few times when that kid came up to me and said something like this. Tsk...it makes sense when you think about it. You see, when you come to this village this time and visit this house and that house, the comparison between what you say and what you do and how you deal with advancement and retreat is huge.
There is nothing wrong with me. You may not be able to tell it at first, but gradually you will realize that this is really the benefit of being knowledgeable. There are not many people in the family who can compare with my uncle..."
Geng Lie looks bold and fierce, but he is humble to his own people. He doesn't speak quickly. Dongzhu is sitting next to him and looks like his nephew. He was silent for a while, and then he said: "Listen
You said my uncle was beaten when he first entered the house, right?"
"Well, that Xue Jin of the Xue family probably took advantage of no one to take a photo... Damn, no one saw it at the time. If I had caught him then, even if the Xue family was behind him, I would have to beat him.
You can't sue the government after he's half dead... But later, my uncle also humiliated him severely, haha... Oh, by the way, you should have entered the mansion by then..."
"Yeah." Dongzhu nodded, "Not long after I entered the mansion, I heard someone talk about it, but I wasn't very clear about it. But...Uncle Geng, since my uncle is so powerful, why did he want to marry into his wife?"
Geng Lie thought for a while: "This matter is a bit complicated. Firstly, the old lady had an agreement with my uncle's grandfather. Secondly, the Su family has a strong foundation now, and the second young lady is also capable and has a strong temper. I don't know.
How did we talk about it at the beginning? In fact, we think one of the more likely reasons is... Haha, before getting married, the second lady once visited my uncle in private. The second lady's appearance and temperament are both very good... I don't know what happened between them.
Something happened in the meantime, anyway, my uncle agreed... Let’s not talk about the second young lady, let’s talk about the girls around the second young lady. Chan’er is so considerate, Juan’er, Xing’er, that girl… she’s beautiful, she’s just beautiful
Too aggressive..."
Among the three maids, Chan'er is considerate, Juan'er is lively, and Xing'er, as the older sister, sometimes quarrels with others. She and Geng Lie also quarreled a few times over small issues, but they didn't take it to heart.
, but naturally it was both funny and annoying. After talking for a while, Geng Lie patted him on the shoulder.
"The second young lady and my uncle are indeed a match made in heaven. From now on, the second young lady will definitely take over the Su family. You are still young, so do your best. If you can be a manager in the future..."
With such encouragement, Dongzhu nodded in agreement. Not long after, night had fallen, and people came in and out of the mourning hall. Farmers who had nothing to do at night gathered together, and it became more lively. As time passed, it gradually became less and less.
Dongzhu would occasionally go over to take a look, and the girl named Xiaochan would be there. Sometimes his uncle would be there, but sometimes he wouldn't be there.
Dongzhu only entered the Su Mansion last year. For him who was originally from the countryside, being able to enter the city and work in such a high-profile family made everything he saw "very powerful and very novel".
Feel.
In each yard and every rule, the stewards seemed to know everything. The rest of the people, no matter their age, seemed to be very powerful. Occasionally, I heard them talk about who this was, who was that, and how high their status was.
Or I heard the legends about talented scholars in the city. In short, it felt like he was an existence beyond his reach.
I often hear people in the house say that the second young lady is the most powerful person in the house - of course, except for a few masters - he doesn't have much chance to see the powerful second young lady, but the few people around the second young lady
I have met the maid several times.
The girl who always smiles and is very good-looking when talking to others is Chan'er. Although she looks younger than him, you still have to call her "Sister Xiao Chan" when you meet her. This is natural, she is so powerful. She is called Juan'er.
As for Xing'er, she appears quiet and serious when giving orders, with no expression and doesn't smile very much, but her sullen face when she gets angry is a bit scary. Sister Xing'er is usually gentle when giving orders, but occasionally gets into trouble with other people.
It was scary when there was some friction. I once saw her arguing with a steward from the third room, talking point by point, never giving in... She is obviously a maid, but she dared to argue with such a powerful steward, and in the end she still refused to give in.
Winning, this thing made Dongzhu feel really awesome.
Relatively speaking, the person who attracted Dongzhu's attention more was Sister Xiaochan. In fact, she didn't talk to her much. A few times she came over to give instructions and then left. However, when she was in the mansion, she could often be seen and occasionally see her.
As he walked, he stretched and muttered something. Occasionally he saw her trotting along, and occasionally he saw her jumping next to the uncle. He felt... Sister Xiaochan's smile was so pretty.
Of course, other than that, I don’t have many other ideas.
On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, he drove her out in a carriage, but he couldn't say anything, he just told her his name. Later, she actually remembered that she had greeted her several times when he saw her in the house.
And he was called "Brother Dongzhu". He couldn't answer it well these few times, and he was very upset afterwards.
There are also some servants in the mansion who are pursuing a certain maid, but such things are not among his considerations. The three maids of the second lady have the same status as stewards in the mansion. He is not used to the word "pursuit" now.
He wouldn't feel that he had this status. Of course, when Xiaochan was coming back this time, he was assigned to drive the car. He originally wanted to say a few words of comfort that morning, but he was clumsy and couldn't do it when he finally set off.
Say it.
During the past few days in Nanting Village, he felt a little empty. He actually didn't have much to do, just feed the horses and maintain the carriage. Occasionally, he and Geng Huyuan accompanied his uncle to visit various houses. My uncle is really amazing.
If I were myself, I wouldn't be able to say those words. They sound simple, but they feel so natural. Just like Geng Huyuan said, knowledgeable people should be respected by others.
Sister Xiaochan would sleep in the same room with her uncle, which was a natural thing in itself. He didn't think there was anything wrong with it. But it was always hard to suppress some empty thoughts. As time passed and it got dark, he went there again.
When he looked, his uncle and Xiao Chan were no longer in the mourning hall, so he went all the way back to the resting place. When he passed by his yard, he saw lights on inside. He stood outside and watched for a while, and his uncle's shadow was sitting in front of the window.
He was sitting there, probably writing something, but Sister Xiaochan didn't seem to be inside.
Turning to the side of the small courtyard arranged for him and Geng Huyuan to live, he noticed that there was some movement on the carriage side. He went over in confusion, and Xiao Chan, dressed in white and plain clothes, climbed out of it, holding something in his hand.
When she saw him, she nodded: "Brother Dongzhu."
"Uh, Sister Xiaochan...heh, who did I think it was..."
"My uncle hasn't been eating well these days. I prepared some things for him when I came here earlier." Xiaochan nodded and smiled. In her hand were a few long-lasting pancakes and dried fruits.
Then he handed one over and said, "Brother Dongzhu, are you hungry? Let's have one too."
"Uh, I, I..."
"Take it." Xiaochan smiled and put the pancake into Dongzhu's hand, then waved, "Then I'll go back to the room first. Goodbye, Brother Dongzhu. I'll have to trouble you tomorrow."
"No, no...it's not troublesome..." Dongzhu held the pancake and had a lot to say in his heart, but he couldn't say it out. He just watched the figure passing through the yard over there.
In fact, she didn't look like she usually smiled, and her figure looked a little sad. However, when she arrived in front of the door, she could still see her pause, with a smile at the corner of her mouth, and then push the door open and go in.
.
The silhouettes of the two people moved inside. Dongzhu held the pancake in his hand and stared at it blankly for a long time, then took a small bite. This pancake might be delicious to him normally, but it didn't seem to taste like it at this time.
It was so good. He just looked at the figure in the light opposite, feeling some emotions that were not strong but lingering no matter what, the ignorant love, lost in this summer night...
"This is what landlords do..."
In the room, Ning Yi sighed, divided the pancakes and dried fruits on the table into two halves, and pushed one half towards Xiaochan: "I can't get used to the food prepared by other people so enthusiastically. The maids bring things over in the middle of the night and eat them secretly. This behavior is considered
What will happen if people find out?"
"It doesn't matter if others know about it. In fact, my uncle is really amazing. Even though he doesn't like eating, he can still keep eating just sitting there..."
"Uh, is it obvious that I don't like eating?"
"Xiao Chan can see that, but others can't." Xiao Chan smiled, "I'm full, I don't need to give it to me."
"Whether it tastes good or not, I stuffed it as hard as I could, and I'm full. Since you brought it here, you have the responsibility to destroy half of it. Don't waste it."
"Then I'll just have half a baby."
Xiaochan picked up the cakes and fruits and put them over to Ning Yi. Ning Yi shook his head and negotiated: "No, no, I brought too much, and now I will suffer a loss. We can calculate it according to the proportion and divide it into five parts, Xiao Chan."
Chan, no matter what, you have to share two shares to make a deal... This one is too big, please change it to a smaller one!"
Negotiations like negotiations were going on intensely on the table. Xiaochan took the big fruit and put it together with the other two small ones to protest: "You can't calculate it like that, this big one is worth two...
"
"Then you can come up with a more reliable way to divide it. I think these pancakes are not the same size. Look, the piece over there is obviously smaller, right... This is not good. You are deliberately taking advantage.
.”
"If I want to put the big one over, I have to take the two little ones over!"
"I have another way."
"Huh? What... ugh..."
Xiaochan opened her mouth, and Ning Yi threw the big one in: "Okay, now that the big one is gone, it will be easier to separate now. We don't count the big one..."
"Ugh, it's not sour when you cook it. You've eaten it (how can it not be counted? I've eaten it)..." Xiao Chan protested while chewing hard.
"How can you count if you ate it? It was you who ate it. And you can't even speak well, and you still learn to negotiate. What on earth do you want to say... Tsk, I don't understand anyway. Okay, let me continue to explain.
, you have the right to put forward opinions, and I will refer to all the opinions you put forward..."
There was nothing to do, so they could only find some boring things to entertain themselves. The two of them just divided the food in the room like a back-and-forth. When they finished dividing the food and calculated it carefully, Xiaochan realized that he had eaten more than half of it.
, she was usually a smart and capable gold medal maid, but she had no choice when it came to Ning Yi, so she could only mutter "Uncle is bullying", then she took off her clothes, slept inside, and decided to ignore him, but soon
After Ning Yi fell asleep, she couldn't help but move to the middle and hold Ning Yi's hand.
That night passed quietly, and the deceased was buried at Chenshi the next day. Originally there was a dinner party in the village at noon and evening, but considering the floods these days, the victims went to Jiangning and returned to the city as early as possible.
After returning for burial and worship, Ning Yi and others said goodbye to everyone and prepared to set off.
At this time, the sun in the sky had just become a little hot, and the carriage left Nanting Village and drove on the mountain road back to Jiangning. The weather in the mountains was dull, and soon after, dark clouds seemed to begin to gather in the distance...