This is an interesting story that happened many years ago. Although it tells about strange people and strange things, there are many conclusive facts in it.
It is said that it was late spring and summer, and everything was at its peak of vitality. On the edge of the pond in the Qian family's house, a long-bearded man wearing a gauze hat and dark gold silk casual clothes was facing the water, and his handles sprinkled water. Feed for goldfish. Colorful fish gathered at his feet and put food into their mouths one after another; birds stopped on the short tree behind him, humming while pecking their wings; butterflies were sucking the stamens of flowers. , when the wind blows, it sways left and right together with the small yellow-green flowers.
Everything was so beautiful and harmonious, except for the man who looked sad. He held on to the wooden railing, facing himself in the water, and sang: "The sun and the moon are everywhere! The flowers are changing and the flowers are faint. The heart is worried, like a bandit raccoon." "Yi. You can talk quietly and think about it, but you can't fly hard."
"Ling Sheng! Are you so interested today?" A tall young man with white paper fan in hand, fair skin and elegant clothes came up and said: "I haven't read many poems in "Three Hundred Poems", but this is the only one. I have heard you recite this song more than once, brother, so why bother?"
"Ling Chong, you are so blessed that you don't know how blessed you are!" The long-bearded man stopped putting food in his hands and looked at the surface of the pond, saying: "You can marry a woman who admires each other, and now the child She’s about to be born. But brother, in order to fulfill my filial duty, I really can’t get rid of the ‘baby marriage’ that my father has arranged for me.”
"Ling Sheng, sister-in-law, aren't you still willing to let you take a concubine?"
The long-bearded man looked up to the sky and said, "What's up? Have you decided on the name of the child?"
The young master opened the fan, and there were four characters written on it: "A Perfect Match". After looking at it for a moment, he suddenly said: "Since both of our brothers have 'yu' in their names, I hope my child will also be a person like jade." Brother, you call me 'Bi', brother I call you 'Ying', then I will call this child 'Xi'! What do you think, brother?"
Not long after the two brothers Gan Bi and Qian Ying chatted, a servant rushed from the stone gate and gasped: "Big... something bad has happened, Lord Gan! Madam... she has made trouble in the government office again!"
"What!" Gan Bi was shocked and hurriedly walked back to the house to change clothes and put on the black hat and blue shirt in preparation for going to court to hear the case. However, Gan Ying was an idle person who drank, wrote poems and had fun all day long. His literary talents are quite famous in Jiangzhou. Today, Qian Ying really had nothing to do, so she went with her brother.
In the Jiangzhou government office, the lobby was lined with majestic officials. Dozens of eyes were staring at a woman and a man in the center of the court. The woman was graceful, dressed in yellow, and had all kinds of silver hairpins and gold ornaments on her head. The woman on the other side had gray hair. The old man was ordered to kneel on the ground, his clothes were ragged, and his face was full of fear.
Gan Bi came out of the back hall and walked straight to his wife, saying, "Madam, why do you have to work so hard for me?"
"This man was moving things at the market and bumped into me, causing my newly bought 'Colorful Glass Hairpin' to break! Not only that, he also splashed mud all over me!" Mrs. Qian shouted angrily.
Gan Bi saw that the old man was extremely poor and felt pity: just because of his wife's willful behavior, he might have lost a day's food. Therefore, he ignored his wife and helped the man up first, saying: "Old man, please wake up quickly!"
"Sir, I was really careless. Please give me a lighter sentence!" The old man did not want to get up, but bowed even lower.
"Mr. Qian!" Mrs. Qian snuggled up to Qian Bi and said, "This time I have a witness, you see!" After saying that, she waved her hand behind her, and three women in the same luxurious clothes as Mrs. Qian ran away. They came out and told the story of the incident one by one. These three people were all acquaintances of Mrs. Qian, so of course everything they said was directed towards her.
Ganbi listened for a long time and roared: "That's enough! Madam, what do you want to do after you have been making such nonsense over and over again?"
"I...you have been running away from me all day long on official business. Have you ever thought that I am your wife?" Mrs. Qian said sadly: "You just don't think I can give you a child, right? You have to find another woman. , so that she can take my place!"
"Come here, take this old man back, and take a few coins from the warehouse to compensate." Qianbi turned back to his seat, slapped the "gavel" in front of the case angrily, and left the room with a cry. The kneeling old man quickly thanked her, faced Mrs. Qian's complaints and anger, and left the place where the matter was.
"Well, you Qian Lingsheng, since you have brought shame on my Fu family, then don't blame me for being rude!" Mrs. Qian comes from the famous Fu family, so she naturally attaches great importance to the family's reputation. She was abandoned by her husband because she could not have children. For reasons like this, for a daughter of a famous family, it is extremely humiliating.
"What on earth are you going to do! You, stop for me!" Qian Bi was about to shout to stop his wife from leaving, but received no response.
After a moment of silence, a subordinate came to Gan Bi and reported: "Sir, the evil path you want to thoroughly investigate recently - the 'Taiping Dao' has some clues, but..." He leaned close to Gan Bi's ear, He covered his mouth and said softly: "'Taipingdao' has been promoting the 'Fangzhongshu' to prolong life and beautify the face in order to attract followers, which has caused frequent prostitution in the city. I also saw that your wife... was among them!" "
Gan Bi couldn't believe it. He didn't expect that such a famous family could not escape the clutches of evil. For the sake of the face of the Gan family, he repeatedly told his subordinate not to say anything. Gan Ying on the side witnessed Cheng and after knowing what happened, she hurriedly comforted him. My brother, after all, his wife did these things that were degrading to her husband's dignity.
Unexpectedly, Gan Bi replied: "Ling Chong, what I care more about is the reputation of the Qian family. As for Madam... all I can do is to give her a name. If Madam goes to the Fu family to take a test, what will Uncle Fu do?" I'll leave it to you to deal with it. The recent events are enough for me to drink a pot..."
Such a cold response was beyond Qian Ying's expectation. People often hear people say: "One day for a couple, a hundred days of kindness." This sentence certainly does not apply to marriages that are only for the purpose of maintaining family ties. At least her brother is the template. .
After the two settled the matter, they walked back to Qian's Mansion. Seeing that her brother was unhappy, Qian Ying had an idea and wanted to go to a newly opened tavern in the inner city with her brother to have a good time.
"Ling Sheng, I heard that there is a blond Xianbei woman in a newly opened restaurant in the inner city who is good at playing the pipa. You have nothing to do today, why don't you go pay your respects?"
Gan Bi silently agreed. He knew that his brother was a very interesting person. When it came to "having fun", he said he was the first, and no one dared to say the second. So he went back to his house and changed into regular clothes, and met Gan Ying. Peers.
In the evening, surrounded by candlelight and crowds, the two young men strode into the "Furong Building". A high platform was set up in the middle of the building so that everyone in the audience could enjoy the exotic customs. It is located in the southeast In Jiangzhou, the "Xianbei people" are not well understood. This nomadic people from the north of the Great Wall has always been shrouded in a mysterious veil. But tonight, in the exotic tunes, the drinkers can get up close and personal Seeing this made most of the people present extremely excited, and some even shouted wildly and loudly in the excitement of drinking to heighten the restless atmosphere.
A moment later, a blond woman, holding a pear-shaped pipa in her hands, was led to the stage. The woman was wearing a red gauze, the skirt only reached her knees, and a ribbon wrapped around her waist. This was the dress of a romantic woman. But in her case Hidden behind the pipa she was holding was a face that was still childish and inexperienced. Seeing such a weak girl, the drinker next to her could not help but bully her. He uttered filthy words and tried to bully the woman on the stage. More wrinkles and pain are seen in the face.
In order to play normally, the blonde woman closed her eyes tightly, endured the frivolous words of others, and plucked the first string. A series of musical sounds followed one after another, trying to take everyone present away from this place of fireworks. Gradually, everyone Gradually immersed in the tune that describes the wind and sand of the desert.
For Gan Bi, who has never been to the desert, the impression of the vastness he only heard from books or people's words is not deep enough, but when he sees the woman in front of him, he is full of thoughts and thoughts, and every thought is integrated into the tune. Among them, this is enough to make Qianbi intoxicated and relaxed.
"How could such a young girl end up in the world of mortals?"
Suddenly, a middle-aged man wearing a jade crown and a white robe, carrying a wine bottle, wandered to the stage, stretched out his hand to pull the skirt of the Xianbei woman, and said disrespectfully: "Beauty, let me see what else you have." Is the hair here also golden? Hahaha..."
The Xianbei woman stopped playing, hugged the pipa tightly to her chest, and started wrestling with the gangster, trying to break away from his hand. Not only did no one come forward, but everyone around them was cheering and shouting. Shaoqing, the girl's skirt was covered Half of it was torn off. The white of the blue and white cloth shoes, up to the top of her thighs, was exposed. She shed bitter tears shyly and covered her shameful place with her pipa.
A man with a long beard and a coat jumped out from behind the crowd and pushed the shameless gangster away. Then he went up to the stage and helped the woman down. But somehow, the moment he touched her, the blonde woman Her body immediately softened, and she weakly dropped the pipa she regarded as a treasure and fell into Qianbi's arms.
Gan Bi shouted several times, but received no response, so he could only carry her off the platform. At this time, some drinkers recognized that this was the prefect of Jiangzhou, and they asked loudly: "Hey, isn't this the prefect?" What? Why, do you want to come to this romantic and happy place tonight?"
After hearing this, everyone started talking. Soon, a man who looked like a restaurant owner came over, raised his hands and said to Qian Bi: "Sir, no matter how big the official is, it is not difficult to ruin the business of the small shop! This Xianbei woman But I got it from the north with a lot of effort..."
Gan Bi smiled contemptuously, took out a bag of silver from his body, handed it over, and said, "This money is enough to redeem yourself!"
The manager of the restaurant opened the bag and saw the silver light. He accepted it with a smile and asked someone to send the two of them out. At the same time, the blond woman in her arms had woken up. She looked at her hands and hurriedly called: "I My pipa! Where is my pipa?”
Qian Ying walked out of the restaurant, holding the pipa in her hand. When the woman saw this, she immediately smiled and jumped lightly into Qian Bi's arms, hugging back her beloved pipa. During this time, her ankle was still broken. A crisp copper bell sounded.
"What a wonderful woman. She actually has a string of small copper bells tied around her ankles." Ganbi said in his heart. The woman turned around and opened her dark eyes under her golden eyebrows, as if she had met someone he hadn't seen for a long time. He looked like an old friend.
"Why...you have a beard?" the blond girl asked.
"This..." Gan Bi was stunned for a moment and replied: "I grow a beard when I am an official, just to look more majestic."
Qian Ying wondered at the side: "How do you know that your eldest brother didn't grow a beard before?"
The blonde woman replied: "I... saw it."
The two men were silent. Shaoqing, Ganbi introduced himself: "I am Ganbi, named Lingsheng. May I ask the girl's name?"
"Murong Yan."
"I am Gan Ying, named Ling Chong, and I am his younger brother." Gan Ying hugged Gan Bi with a smile and said, "Is there a place for Miss Murong? This is not a place for a woman of your age!"
"I was kidnapped... I was robbed by horse thieves on the way, and my family... were all killed. This pipa was left to me by my mother..." With tears in her eyes, the blond woman hugged She tightened her pipa and nodded slightly. After a moment, she suddenly raised her head as if recalling something, and tears fell from her eyes. She knelt down in front of Qianbi and begged: "Mr. Qian, please take me in! I will serve you. For life!"
The two brothers swallowed speechlessly and had no choice but to let Murong Yan stay in the house first. Since that night, there has been a foreign girl by Ganbi's side. Although she is petite and her height is only as high as Ganbi's chest, she is She is smart, able to endure hardships, and plays the pipa well, which makes her very popular with the eldest son. At the same time, this also arouses the extreme dissatisfaction of Mrs. Fu, and also lays the "trouble" for what will happen next. "So"...