Summer is approaching, the weather in Pingshou County is getting hotter and humid, and people are beginning to put on thin clothes.
Cao Baijing opened the window and looked at the sky. The dark clouds were low, the willow leaves were swaying, and the fish on the lake were spitting out water. It seemed that early summer would change at any time, and it would rain again.
She returned to her room and continued to embroider. It was an ordinary fine linen fabric, and the needle and thread moved skillfully, but it showed a hint of spiritual light. The three-color pattern was simple, but it was not complete yet.
There is a pile of ready-made clothes folded on the desk, and the aura is shining brightly. This is a valuable Taoist garment, and it is a must-have for magicians. Clothing embroidery is something that few male magicians are willing to do, and relatively few female magicians are willing to do it.
, so it appears to be extremely precious.
"It will be completed tomorrow. This batch can be exchanged for your own use and the clan's use..." This is actually a kind of practice, called the five-color embroidery method with spiritual needles.
As long as a woman concentrates on embroidery, she can gradually increase her Taoist power. This is the safest and most authentic method, and the most suitable for young ladies in the clan, but the progress is also extremely slow.
She was thinking like this, her eyes fell on a piece of writing on the wall, and she read it out: "Pengmen didn't know the fragrance of Qiluo, so I wanted to ask a good matchmaker to hurt myself. Who loves fashion and high style, and sympathizes with the frugal dressing of the times. Dare to put it into practice?"
The ten fingers praise the skill of the needle and do not make the eyebrows elongated. I hate the fact that I press gold thread every year to make wedding clothes for others.
"I hate it." Cao Baijing pinched her sore fingers. She was funny but also helpless: "You said it was just to make up for the poems you owed. You are clearly laughing at me. Isn't it great to be a Jinshi..."
At this time, she showed her girlish attitude. Compared with the soft and graceful maids from the south bought by the clan, she was a truly typical northern girl. She was tall and tall, wearing a green skirt, decent and generous, just like the lady in the painting.
Although she knew it was a joke, both the poem and the words were rare and beautiful. It was very eye-catching, and even had a hint of mystery. She hung it in her boudoir, looked at it when she was resting, smiled after reading it, and continued working.
She has the qualifications of a magician, and she was a first-level magician when she was very young, but she never really wanted to take this path. However, since Ye Qing was selected as a Tongsheng and then a Juren, she had a sudden enlightenment.
If you want to get close to him, you must become a magician.
It is not difficult to become a magician. There is a Taoist temple in the county that teaches basic magic. She settled down and continued to practice using the five-color embroidery method with this spiritual needle for two years. Not only did she gradually embroider three-color spiritual clothes, she also successfully advanced to the Jin Dynasty.
Second level magician.
"哐——"
"Sister, something big has happened." My younger brother Cao Mingliang hurriedly ran over. The thirteen and a half year old man stood in front of me mysteriously, as if I had a secret, please come and beg me.
This is another annoying boy... Cao Baijing was halfway through the embroidery, but stopped helplessly: "What's the matter?"
"I heard from Ye Xiuxiu that the head of their family... Oh, he is now the clan elder. He is using a matchmaker to find out about the eligible daughters of the county, the Lin family in Pingshui, the Li family in Jinyang..." Cao Mingliang twitched his fingers and looked at them with evil intentions.
My sister, seeing her unmoving expression, couldn't help but feel frustrated: "But we don't have a family, sister, how can you still sit still?"
Cao Baijing knocked on his forehead: "We are not from a noble family."
"That's not what you say..." Cao Mingliang shouted. Seeing her calm demeanor, he suddenly woke up and said, "Hey, sister, your reaction is wrong. Shouldn't you be sad at this time?"
"Oh, you just came to see me feel sad?" Cao Baijing looked at her younger brother, her hand lit up with a bright red light.
"No, I'm here to care about Sister." Cao Mingliang screamed, his eyes rolled, and he couldn't help but ask: "Sister didn't like him very much before, she always ran to him, lingered with him, and only stayed overnight...
Uh, I didn’t say anything.”
Cao Baijing glared: "Children don't understand, so don't follow people's nonsense. I went to ask for advice and practice. Which of your eyes can see the lingering love?"
"It's not obvious. When he was around, my whole person changed. My brother is not as good as my cousin." Cao Mingliang muttered. Seeing that she didn't have a sad expression, he couldn't help but feel disappointed: "Are women all watery?"
"Hu" the wind rose from the ground and swept a dark shadow out.
Then, a heavy object fell to the ground and screamed in pain, "Ouch!" and someone yelled loudly: "You violent woman, be careful you will never get married...I will come to take revenge sooner or later."
"Wait until you can beat me." Cao Baijing snorted, and the red light on her hand dissipated, but she heard her father angrily scolding: "How did you talk to your sister? There is no big or small thing like this?"
"Uh, dad..." Cao Mingliang shed tears, apologized unwillingly, and ran away in despair.
Cao Hu fan came in and saw the girl staring blankly at the window. Her beautiful eyes were blurred, as if looking through the curtain into the distance. When she heard the voice, she turned around slowly, feeling a kind of tranquility and pleasant beauty.
The feeling of sweeping.
Her skin was as fair as snow, fair and delicate, and her eyes were like the stars in the night sky. She was filled with happiness at this time, which was very moving. Cao Hushan sighed in his heart. The two years of embroidery day and night have enhanced his Taoism, and his people have also changed accordingly.
It was beautiful, but the price he paid was visible in his eyes and hurt in his heart, but he just coughed lightly and said, "My daughter doesn't need to be polite."
He said and gave her a stack of name rolls: "These are some of the talents who submitted the name cards. Some of them have the reputation of being a child, and some of them have very good character. My father put them down for you some time ago. Now you can take a look...
…You will be twenty during the Chinese New Year, so you are no longer young.”
Cao Baijing took it silently without saying a word.
Cao Hushan had a headache. He was afraid that she would be deeply in love and couldn't extricate herself, but he didn't dare to stimulate her too much. He just stood there in trance, pondering for a long time, and finally said: "Daughter, I understand what you are thinking, but the Ye family used to
That's all, or if Ye Qing fails the exam in Beijing and comes back, his father can try his best to propose marriage. Now that he has won the two rankings of Jinshi and the second ranking, we really can't reach him. Not to mention my family, even the county magistrate has some
If she is not worthy, perhaps only a lady from the governor's family or a lady from the minister's family would be suitable."
"How could he fail the exam?" Cao Baijing chuckled and looked at the words on the wall with a faint look: "You are only seventeen years old and you are so talented. With such a Taoist career, the Taoist sect will not reject such a talent."
"It's okay if you understand, it's okay if you understand." Cao Hushan breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing his daughter looking at the words and clearly seeing the content of the poem, his heart suddenly tightened.
Guo saw that she thought about it and said seriously: "However, I am not delusional, it's just... we just had an agreement."
Cao Hushan was thinking that there was an agreement between two people, so he probably stopped counting and nodded: "It's okay, just say it."
"On the eve of my departure to Beijing last year, I ran to him privately and asked if I could be a concubine without asking for a real wife. He said it was too sudden and unexpected, and I had to think about it..."
Cao Baijing's eyes wandered, remembering Ye Qing's dumbfounded look when she proposed it, she smiled: "But the next day, before he left, he agreed... Don't say I am not a concubine, but as long as he comes back, I will give him to you this year."
Let me tell you, you know, he is a man of great promise
"Concubine..." Cao Hushan was dumbfounded, his mind was buzzing and he couldn't turn around.
"My daughter told you not to have too high expectations." Cao Baijing laughed: "I am not an ordinary daughter. I understood this at a very young age. Especially when I found out my talent as a magician, my family spent a lot of money to send me to Yunshuimen to cultivate my magic skills.
When the teacher comes back, it is even more impossible to have an ordinary marriage."
"To put it bluntly, if it's not a fairy sect or a county with a strong foundation, how can the ordinary family recruit magicians? How can they let them go?"
Cao Baijing looked at the red light in her palms and smiled faintly: "If nothing else happens, I will recruit someone to change my surname and marry into the family. In the future, I will have the status of a clan elder in my family. No matter who is the clan leader, he must treat me respectfully.
, this is the treatment I get due to my strength, and it also makes up for the sacrifice of my marriage."
"For the family, the key is that I can't get married and stay in the family. In my marriage, who my husband is is the least important thing... Especially after I was promoted to a second-level magician, I just did embroidery.
The Taoist clothes are worth a thousand acres of income every year, and the clan is even less likely to let them go.
"I'm not complaining. My family has been very generous to my daughter. I live a good life and can go out freely. How can other people's daughters have such freedom?
"I'm very grateful that I even have some rights to choose. Not to mention that all my Taoist skills were cultivated by my family with a lot of money... This is the fate of a magician."
Saying such cruel words, the girl's expression was calm and her eyes were gentle.
Seeing such an expression, Cao Hushan wanted to say something, but nothing came out.
I came back from my study tour. My wife has passed away. My daughter was fostered by the clan in Yunshuimen since she was a child because of her talent in magic. She didn’t even recognize me when I came back. Thinking about it, I felt sad and guilty, so I left my daughter alone. When I heard these words, I felt even more sad.
Sadly, but unable to change anything.
Cao Baijing flipped through the roll of names and sneered: "It's true that these people have bent down and changed their surnames to voluntarily marry into the family. Such weaklings are really disgusting. Father, what can they bring? They can only be rice bugs, and the clan needs to spend money to support them."
They made a scene"
"Even if they have some skills, the clan will not give them a chance for fear of overshadowing the guest and usurping the throne. I am a second-level magician, and I may be promoted in the future. When my husband-in-law is married, he is one of us. No matter how wise he is, the old lady is afraid that he will not be able to sit still.
Just stay”
After hearing this, Cao Hu shuddered and said softly: "Daughter, daughter... there are some things that cannot be revealed... don't say this, okay?"
"Okay, I won't say it. I just stay at home. How much difference does the title of wife and concubine make? If the Ye family has a Jinshi, they don't covet the profits brought by me as a second-level magician."
"The two families are only a dozen miles away, and they are always there when something happens. They can even pretend that they are not getting along with each other, and go back to their parents' house for seven or eight months out of the year - and the clan can always borrow some of the second-ranked sons.
"Just light up"
"So if I become Ye Qing's concubine, the interests of the clan will not be harmed. Of course, it will be difficult for other families."
Cao Hu's face turned red and his expression was complicated. He couldn't deny what he said. For his daughter, the road to marrying into a good family and becoming a real wife was already dead. Being a married woman's wife really didn't have much dignity.
He was silent for a while and then said with a serious face: "Nonsense, just marry me. What's the matter with you? If you dare to act like this, our family will be disgraced."
Cao Baijing knew that her father had acquiesced, and smiled sweetly: "Just kidding, past relationships aside, I am his cousin after all, and the etiquette is all there. The more he marries his wife, the more he must follow the rules, and the more he must treat me openly.
As for my little tricks in private, can I, a magician, be bullied by a woman?"
Cao Hushan was silent for a moment, then burst into tears: "Daughter, I can't help you, just do whatever you want."
After saying that, he turned around and left with a sad figure.
Cao Baijing watched him go out silently, and secretly smiled bitterly: "I'm sorry, father, actually I still hide a lot from you... The Immortal Sect is as deep as the sea. A female sorcerer like me, as long as she is not amazingly talented and has attracted the cultivation of the master,
To become an inner disciple, you will basically have to sell your soul and body in the end. How can I be willing to be humiliated like this?"
"That night, if Ye Qing refused to accept it, I would have died."