While Liu Jing was chatting with Liu Zong and Liu Cheng, Deng's prison slave Zheng Dang and his accompanying guards finally returned to Nanyang Xinye successfully after more than ten days of traveling and a journey of more than a thousand miles.
The Deng family lived ten miles north of Xinye. They had thousands of fertile fields and hundreds of spacious houses. They had mountains at their backs, rivers in front, ditches and ponds, and were surrounded by ditches and ponds. They were as rich as Nanyang, and their harvests surpassed those of the feudal lords. The Ou family
Compared with him, he is like a country bumpkin, even the Liu family in Longqiu is far behind.
Since the Zhongping Dynasty, Nanyang County, as the hometown of Guangwu Emperor, has suffered from frequent military disasters and rarely had peace. In order to protect themselves, the wealthy families had to follow the example of the border families, build forts, barriers, develop tribes, and private soldiers. Deng
Shi is naturally no exception.
Zheng Dang and his entourage passed through the Wubao Gate Tower and came to a large complex of buildings with many attached buildings and numerous halls and pavilions. This was the home of his master Deng You.
"Finally I'm back!" Zheng Dang stood in front of the Deng Family Courtyard, almost with tears in his eyes.
This trip to Changsha took more than a month to go back and forth. Most of the time was spent on a small, cramped ship with turbid air. The experience was difficult for outsiders to describe. He only saw three things with his own eyes.
When a person is seriously ill, he dies, and he dies in a foreign country.
Moreover, Changsha is humid and rainy, and miasma has always been rampant. No one knows whether they will contract the epidemic, which is no different from gambling on life.
He had gone to Changsha with his master Deng You ten years ago, but at that time he was in the prime of life and his body was still able to bear the burden. Now that he is older and in poor health, he feels that after all this trouble, he may lose several years of his life.
The Deng family's mansion is not only luxurious and gorgeous, but also has many exotic trees and grasses. The flowerbeds are like fields, and it is so beautiful. Water pours into it and the rocks are like mountains. It is like a fairyland on earth.
Deng You is in the study room, writing on a golden nanmu writing table. He is copying "Xi Ping Shi Jing" and "Spring and Autumn Chapter".
The characters he writes are both square and round, and the stipples are well-proportioned and fair. It can be said to be impeccable. Without decades of hard work, he would never be able to reach this level.
Although Deng You is over fifty years old this year, due to proper maintenance, he looks no more than forty years old. He is seven feet seven inches tall and has handsome facial features that are unusual. His beard is two feet long and hangs down on his chest.
Majesty.
Deng You was not only a famous scholar in Nanyang, but also a son of a noble relative. He served as a minister for more than ten years. The minister was a close official of the emperor. He always stayed at the emperor's side, serving as an advisor and dealing with matters, and his status was respected.
Since the death of Emperor Ling, the court has been in turmoil. The eunuchs, relatives, and scholars all wanted to kill each other. They ignored the country and started fighting until the warrior Dong Zhuo entered the capital and the princes of Guandong rose up to attack.
This officially opened the prelude to chaos in the world.
Deng You saw that Hongnong was poisoned by Dong Zhuo and the emperor was in danger. He continued to stay in prison and would be in trouble sooner or later. He immediately abandoned his official position and returned home.
Deng You did not have many heirs, only two sons and one daughter, both of whom were mediocre. Even in a peaceful world, they would not be able to reach the position of two thousand stones, let alone in troubled times. With their wisdom, not only would it be difficult for them to achieve anything, but
If you are worried about your life, you can only stay by your side and take care of you.
The only thing that pleased him was that he gave birth to a good daughter. His daughter Deng Yuan had shown "extraordinary things" since she was a child. She did not love female workers, but liked classics and historical books. She would recite them endlessly morning and night. Her knowledge was so high that she often praised her.
The two brothers were speechless and ashamed.
She is only fifteen this year, and she has just reached the age of hairpins. She has already grown to seven feet and two inches in height. Her beauty is outstanding, and she is the crown prince in Nanyang. She is just like...just like the second Queen Hexi.
If there was no chaos in the world and there was a marriage contract, she would have a chance to enter the palace and compete for the position of queen.
Deng You had full confidence in his daughter. He believed that with her background, appearance, and intelligence, as long as she entered the palace, she would definitely be able to defeat Qunfang and make her mother the most beautiful woman in the world. She would become the third queen of the Deng family in Nanyang after Deng Sui and Deng Mengnu.
.
Unfortunately, this is just a wishful thinking after all.
My daughter has the appearance of a queen, but does not have the destiny of a queen. What can I do?
It is precisely because his daughter is so outstanding that he regards her as a treasure and is the only one favored by him, so Deng You is obsessed with her marriage.
Every night when people are quiet, he often hates himself for joking and can't sleep at night.
Liu Jing was quite smart and cute when he was a child. Unfortunately, his friend Liu Shang died of illness when he was seven years old. Liu Jing has since returned to his hometown of Changsha.
Perhaps it was due to Changsha's disdain for the county, his lack of teachings from his elders, and his lack of guidance from his elders that he developed a cowardly and despicable character. The year before last, when he came to visit, Deng You was greatly disappointed and unhappy after talking to him.
How could such a despicable person be worthy of his own daughter?
Even so, Deng You had no intention of regretting the marriage. However, in the next two years, Liu Jing never came to visit once, and the many ridiculous things he committed in Xiangyang were constantly reported to Deng You.
Sword fighting, gambling, courting prostitutes...he doesn't know how to do anything, except that he doesn't like reading.
Deng You was so angry that he almost vomited blood and had trouble sleeping and eating. He did not have many demands for his son-in-law.
The family background is declining? Can he accept it, but his talent is mediocre? Can he accept it, but his character is despicable? He can accept it even if he pinches his nose...
But the other party must not be a person who does not know how to make progress and is willing to fall. This is the bottom line!
"Zheng Dang has been away for more than a month, it's almost time to come back..." Deng You stopped writing, looked at the clusters of green bamboos outside the window, and thought silently.
The next moment, there was a burst of hurried footsteps outside the study, and then an extremely familiar voice sounded: "Master, the villain is back..."
Seeing that Zheng Dang was covered in dust and tired, Deng You put down his pen and said happily: "It will be good to come back, it will be good to come back..."
Zheng Dang bowed his head and said, "Thank you, Master. I'm thinking of you. Everything goes well on this trip."
"How?" Deng You asked confusedly.
Zheng Dang knew what he was asking and replied: "Liu Langjun is completely different from what he was two years ago. Now he is more than seven feet tall and his demeanor is so good that even if you look at the whole of Nanyang, few people can match him."
"Huh?!" Deng You looked at Zheng Dang in surprise. If the other person was not a domestic slave who grew up with him, he would almost think that Zheng Dang had been bribed. "Is this true?"
"How dare a villain lie to his master?" Zheng Dang then recounted Liu Jing's "working hard to support guests" and "pledge of books to save his neighbors". He also said that he "took the hoe with the scriptures and was eager to learn" and wrote poems.
"Encouraging Farmers" was well received by scholars from the north and the south. Now it is famous in Changsha, and it is about to become an official...
Deng You was stunned for a long time after hearing this.
Who? Liu Jing? Masterpiece Changsha?......
This is really a fantasy!
Seeing his master's unacceptable look, Zheng Dang secretly laughed. He was also frightened by Liu Jing at first and was not much better than his master.
"If the master doesn't believe it, there is a letter as proof. The master will know it as soon as he reads it..." Zheng Dang said as he stepped forward to present Liu Jingzhi's letter.
Deng You opened the letter hesitantly, but upon seeing it, his doubts disappeared instantly.