Chapter 206: First glimpse of mythology? Here you go again to lie to me about my merits!
Ouyang Rong guessed correctly, this was indeed a private family dinner.
Su Mansion, in a hall hidden in the garden.
Delicious food and wine, red candle porcelain bowls.
"Dingling bell~"
From the corridor outside the door, the sound of wind chimes can be heard from time to time.
Ouyang Rong found that every time he came for a banquet, the banquet hall was different.
This Su Mansion is a little too wealthy, with many gardens. The garden hall where the private family banquet is held tonight is more exquisite and elegant than the previous few times.
I saw Uncle Su's uncle sending away the maids and maids.
During the banquet, only Ouyang Rong and Su Fu's family of four were left.
Ouyang Rong took advantage of the opportunity to drink and cover his face with his long sleeves, and quietly glanced around the banquet crowd.
I have to admit that the genes of the Su family are quite good. Uncle Su and Mother Weber in front of me can tell at a glance that they must have been handsome men and beautiful women when they were young. Now that they have children, they are still very handsome. An old handsome man, one and a half years old,
Old lady.
In addition, the pair of Su brothers and sisters who were born are also very popular. Su Guo'er allowed Ouyang Rong to take shelter in the rain in Dagushan. He noticed it at a glance, so there is no need to say more.
As for Su Dalang, it’s time to shave...
I don’t know why beards were so popular among the scholars of the Zhou Dynasty, and I don’t know what’s so good about it. Ouyang Rong couldn’t appreciate it. But someone felt that even though he was facing such a good-looking family, he
His handsome face can barely keep him calm, and he doesn't feel inferior even when he's sitting in his seat...
In addition, the people present now are not the whole family of the Su family. Ouyang Rong had heard before that Su Dalang said that he and Su Xiaomei actually had a younger brother, but he was still in his infancy and he was not the same mother as them.
Su Xiaomei, Su Dalang's biological mother is Weber's mother who is serving Ouyang Rong enthusiastically.
The younger brother was born from a concubine. Ouyang Rong was a little surprised that the henpecked Uncle Su actually had a concubine. However, he heard that it seemed to be the dowry maid beside Weber's mother, so it seemed reasonable.
No matter what, the few people present now are considered the core members of the Su family, so it is the nature of a family banquet.
This made "outsider" Ouyang Rong murmur in his heart.
"Auntie is too kind, let me do it."
He immediately stood up, took Wei Mei's hand and handed him a large bowl of steaming fish soup, and smiled bitterly.
As soon as Ouyang Rong's butt touched the stool, he suddenly turned around and asked:
"Uncle Su, did your house encounter any trouble?"
After speaking, he paid unblinking attention to the expression of Uncle Su opposite him. The latter seemed stunned and shook his head:
"Nothing. As the magistrate of a county, my nephew should be able to distinguish between public and private matters. I understand this, so why would I put my nephew in trouble?"
Ouyang Rong smiled and nodded, lowering his eyes and took a sip of the milky white fish soup.
Out of the corner of his eye, he casually glanced at the people around the table.
Uncle Su's wrinkled eyes had a reddish ring left in them. He picked up the soup bowl with his left hand, and the ring finger and the tiger's mouth of his right hand had a cinnabar-like red color, like a kind of ink pad.
As if he was in a hurry and forgot to wash it off, Uncle Su's right palm shrank into his sleeve to hide his hand stained with ink mud.
However, although the head of the Su family looked a little haggard today, he smiled a lot just after the dinner started, and he was also somewhat cheerful when talking to Ouyang Rong, laughing heartily from time to time.
Mother Weber, who was next to her, behaved a little too virtuously today. She scooped soup for the guest Ouyang Rong, and picked up vegetables for Uncle Su. She also changed the dishes in front of Su Dalang from time to time to prevent him from burying his head in eating a dish.
Although Ouyang Rong, an outsider, was present, the last few times Ouyang Rong came over for dinner, Mother Weber behaved politely and politely, and was not so close and familiar.
Moreover, this mother of Weber has some slender eyebrows, which makes her eyes look narrow and cold. Su Guoer's cold, proud eyes and temperament seem to be inherited from her.
But today, Mother Weber seemed to be quite satisfied with the dinner party or the guests, and was no longer as polite as she was to her husband or her son's bad friends.
The long-skirted woman nicknamed Mei Niang glanced at Ouyang Rong from time to time, nodding slightly and imperceptibly.
As for Su Dalang, he was the most active in cooking during the dinner. He worked hard and was very serious. He was like this before, nothing special.
But before, when Ouyang Rong saw him in the evening, Su Dalang looked at him with a somewhat complicated look. For some reason, it seemed to be mixed with admiration.
But when Ouyang Rong winked and asked him if inviting him to the mansion for a banquet tonight was to help his uncle Jianghu in an emergency, the two of them grinned, and the atmosphere between them returned to normal.
Ouyang Rong silently noticed these small details and irregularities today.
By the way, there was also Miss Su who was sitting across from him. She didn't seem to be looking at him very much. She had been immersed in playing with her cat during the dinner.
Su Xiaomei placed the white cat in her arms with the black corners of its mouth like a butterfly holding a butterfly. The kitten was lame and very well-behaved. It rubbed against her purple and pink embroidered shoes. From time to time, grandma would make a "meow" sound. Su Xiaomei picked up fish and fed her with thorns.
it.
Su Xiaomei, who was lowering her head to feed the cat, smiled lightly at a certain moment. This smile was really very shallow. Only her lips were raised upwards, her nose was slightly wrinkled, and her narrow eyes were still cold. If she wore a veil to cover the lower half of her face,
You can't even see the smile at all.
I don’t know if she feels happy playing with the cat, or if she enjoys the feeling of having someone lying down on her skirt and rubbing her legs obediently.
This was the first time Ouyang Rong saw Su Xiaomei smiling. The two had chatted in Meilin before. Most of the time, the latter wore a tulle. Now that he was eating, the tulle naturally faded away, making the distance much closer.
Ouyang Rong looked around and silently looked away, but the next second, he suddenly met a cold gaze.
Su Guo'er, who had lowered his head to tease the cat the whole time, suddenly looked at Ouyang Rong.
"I heard that Mr. Ouyang has been reading some books by Taoist hermits recently."
Ouyang Rong asked: "Who said that?"
Su Guo'er whispered: "Sister Xie."
Ouyang Rong nodded, he seemed to have mentioned it to his junior sister today.
In fact, it was to pave the way for the "homecoming" that he had begun to prepare in the past two days, and to guide the junior sister to prepare mentally in advance.
After all, what if he, a big living person, suddenly disappears and the junior sister and others mistakenly think that something happened to him.
Ouyang Rong had already planned in his mind, preparing to leave quietly in an appropriate way and try not to affect anyone.
"That's what happened."
Facing the curious looks from everyone, Ouyang Rong nodded and suddenly said:
"A few days ago, the rescuer caught wind and cold and was in coma for a few days. When he woke up, he looked at the orchids on the windowsill and suddenly felt something in his heart..."
Ouyang Rong paused, turned to Su Guo'er and said, "Wealth and honor are not what I want, and I cannot hope for the imperial hometown."
Hearing these familiar words, Su Guo'er's pretty face was startled. She saw the young man opposite him finishing reciting this poem, looking up and drinking, laughing heartily.
Su Guoer asked calmly:
"I like the poem about returning home that Mr. Ouyang gave me very much. I often read it at night. Mr. Ouyang seems to like it too. Could it be that... he has also thought about resigning and going into seclusion? It's the same as the man who only did this four hundred years ago.
Is he the same as Tao Qian, a famous scholar from the Eastern Jin Dynasty who was the magistrate of Eighty-one Days?"
Ouyang Rong smiled on his face and did not answer, but frowned slightly in his heart. Why is this little sister Su so sharp?
Wei Mei gently patted the back of Su Baoer's clenched fist on her lap:
"What nonsense are you talking about? Liang Hanxian's nephew is already the magistrate of a county at a young age. He is famous all over the world and has an unlimited future. Why are you resigning and going into seclusion? You are just talking nonsense."
Wei Mei interrupted, Ouyang Rong smiled and ignored the topic, raised his glass to Su Guo'er and saluted.
The latter glanced at him sideways and said nothing more.
Ouyang Rong's toast was truly sincere.
In fact, it's good to leave an introduction like this. He will take action in the next few days, and he shouldn't wait until the junior sister returns from Longhu Mountain.
When the time comes, the junior sister will not be too surprised when she learns his whereabouts from everyone. After all, there are signs, and he speaks earnestly and thoughtfully, warning the government, and admiring the Taoist hermit.
The dinner that followed was more prosaic than Ouyang Rong had imagined.
Nothing happened about pulling strings to recruit a son-in-law that he had been worried about. Of course, maybe it was because Su Xiaomei was so proud and arrogant that no one would like her.
Uncle Su and others didn't ask for anything from him until the banquet ended at the end.
Even after he drank enough fish soup, Weber's mother kept serving him soup, which made Ouyang Rong feel a little embarrassed.
In addition, perhaps remembering that he was about to say goodbye to this place, Ouyang Rong frequently raised his glass and drank a lot of wine with Uncle Su and Su Dalang.
Although the alcohol content in this era was not high, when the dinner was over and Ouyang Rong stood up to leave the table, his body swayed slightly, as if a red candle had been lit not far away all night.
Until he went out, the evening breeze swaying the crisp wind chimes on the corridor made Ouyang Rong's drunkenness dissipate a little.
"Da Lang, where is the thing that junior sister left for me?"
Ouyang Rong took a few steps forward, turned around with a smile on his face, and returned to the original route to ask.
Su Dalang patted his forehead, almost forgot, and quickly took Ouyang Rong to Yilanxuan.
Not long after, Ouyang Rong took two things wrapped in red cloth from the hands of the maid guarding the courtyard on the narrow corridor at the entrance of Yilanxuan.
Taking advantage of the hazy glow of the lantern hanging at the door, Ouyang Rong discovered that it was the moonlight sword and an oval-shaped hard object.
Ouyang Rong touched the latter through the red cloth. It had water chestnuts and horns.
His face looked curious until the next moment, his palms trembled.
"What's wrong with Lianghan? Why has his face changed?" Su Dalang asked curiously.
"No...it's okay."
There is a faint purple mist floating in the deepest part of Ouyang Rong's eyes, and an ancient clock appears.
He immediately turned over his hands and put away the two things. Without having time to ask any more questions, he thanked Su Dalang and left the Su Mansion with his head buried all the way, returning to the Meilin Courtyard.
In the study room, facing Ye Weilai who approached him with a concerned look on his face, Ouyang Rong explained a few words, mentioned Xie Lingjiang's outing, and then found an excuse to send the white-haired maid away.
The study was locked, Ouyang Rong frowned and sat down, took a lantern, put the moonlight sword aside, opened the red cloth, and revealed a bronze animal face inside.
This thing was not unfamiliar to him. It was the thing worn by the Jade Immortal. It was seized by the junior sister during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Ouyang Rong frowned, sometimes touching the bronze beast's face with his hand, and sometimes moving his hand away. Repeated several times, deep in his eyes, an ancient clock shrouded in purple mist appeared faintly, appearing and disappearing for a while.
"What kind of blessing is this? It's the same as the blessing from the Pure Land Palace. It's triggered when you touch it. It's strange..."
Ouyang Rong thought for a while but did not act immediately. He turned to look at another bamboo slip inside the red cloth, which was together with the bronze fake bread.
When I opened it, I saw that it was indeed my junior sister's handwriting.
Ouyang Rong scanned it quickly.
The junior sister said that when she went to Gezao Mountain, she took the opportunity to inquire about this bronze mask. This object may be a mythical artifact called "Mirage Mask" in the legend, which is owned by some magical magicians.
, can transform into the appearance of others.
The junior sister suspected that the Jade Fairy was able to pretend to be Ouyang Rong and disrupt the ribbon-cutting ceremony because of the magic function of this object.
However, the junior sister tried to inject spiritual energy, but there was no change. I don't know if it is broken or if it is bound to a specific person and requires special Qi training channels to use it.
Other than that, this thing should be harmless, so the junior sister felt relieved and handed it over to Ouyang Rong for disposal.
There was also the moonlight sword, which the junior sister kept behind for Ouyang Rong to defend himself.
In addition, at the end of the bamboo slip, there are some words urging him to pay attention to safety.
Ouyang Rong felt a warm feeling in his heart. After a while, he put down the bamboo slips, with a solemn expression on his face, picked up this simple and strange mirage mask, closed his eyes and muttered:
"Fifteen hundred merits? Just a big ass mask, 1.5 Vera?
"But it doesn't seem to have a special color. There is only purple mist on the fortune clock, and there is no distinguishing feature... Do you want to exchange it? Forget it, I have 20,000 anyway, so what are you afraid of? Can you still suck me dry?"
Ouyang Rong repeatedly determined the merit value required for this blessing.
Under the illumination of the lights, a trembling shadow of an ancient bell in purple mist appeared in his eyes. Ouyang Rong closed his eyes. After a while, he opened his eyes, and the shadow in his eyes disappeared.
Blessing exchange.
"Why is there no movement..." Ouyang Rong frowned just now, but in the next moment, his expression suddenly changed.
In the dimly lit study, a strange purple mist surged out from Ouyang Rong's eyebrows, followed his shoulders and arms, and poured into the mirage mask held in his palm!
Ouyang Rong's eyes widened, "Why is there such a big movement this time!"
He jumped out in shock, and the mirage mask fell on the table with a "ding-dong" sound, but the purple mist pouring out of his forehead still connected Ouyang Rong's fingertips to the mask.
The purple mist seemed invisible and without substance, but it made the Mirage Mask tremble slightly.
Ouyang Rong didn't know how much time had passed.
The purple haze gradually disappeared.
In the merit tower at Ouyang Rongxin Lake, the blessing bell returned to silence.
On the desk outside, a bronze animal face lay quietly on the table.
Ouyang Rong pursed his lips slightly, bent down, and took a closer look.
The lifelike carved animal-faced eyes flickered with purple light for a moment, then disappeared inwardly.
When Ouyang Rong saw it, he suddenly felt blessed and felt that he had vaguely established a special connection with this mirage mask.
It's as if... this thing is part of his body.
"Is this... similar to recognizing the owner as mine?"
Ouyang Rong was thoughtful and stretched out his palm, but it immediately stopped in mid-air, and his brows gradually gathered:
"What is the origin of this Merit Tower and Fortune Bell? I used to think it was some kind of golden finger of causality, and it didn't even belong to this world.
"But this time, some strange purple mist actually poured out, affecting the Qi Practitioner's mythical artifact... Could this tower and this bell be related to the Qi Practitioner?"
There was a long silence in front of the desk. A young man grabbed a mask and lowered his head to put it on.
…
The moon is on the branches, and the night is getting darker.
An official residence not far from Luming Street.
There is a courtyard that is being strictly guarded by 80% of the people inside and 80% of the people outside, with people patrolling and watching constantly.
Yan Liulang followed Xie Lingjiang's arrangements a few days ago and came to the house where the Jade Fairy was imprisoned tonight to keep vigil and patrol.
He walked around the house, lowered his head to check, and frowned:
"It's strange. I obviously took the last antidote pill last night, but why haven't I woke up yet? Master Xie has gone away in the afternoon. Hey, let's wait and see for another day."
On a silent hospital bed, a fat priestess lay flat on the bed, her eyes closed and unconscious, her limbs tied with iron chains. Her breathing was weak and her rhythm did not change.
Yan Liulang looked at it for a while, shook his head and muttered, then turned and walked towards the door.
This guy is finally gone!
On the hospital bed, the Jade Fairy's eyes opened slightly, then closed them immediately, and she waited quietly. With a sneer in her heart, she began to think about how to escape.
But the next second, the face of the Jade Lady Fairy changed suddenly, her throat sweetened, and she blurted out: "Who is it!"
"Humph, I already knew you were pretending to be dead!"
Yan Liulang held the knife and snorted coldly, but before he could turn around and use the backup plan arranged by Miss Xie, on the bed behind him, the exclamation of the Jade Lady Fairy suddenly stopped, and she saw her face full of fear and her body twitching.
He spat out a mouthful of old blood, tilted his neck, rolled up the whites of his eyes, and fainted again.
Yan Liulang:......
Yan Liulang and the several big men who rushed in and ambushed the door looked at each other.
The atmosphere is a little awkward.
I’m about to write the climax. I’ve been laying the groundwork for the past two days, so it’s a bit short. Sorry, brothers… (orz, the fourth day of rebooting)