Chapter 64 New Maid, New Construction and New Unjust Case (2-in-1)
"Are you getting used to living here these days?"
Ouyang Rong lay on his back on a bamboo chair, holding a book in one hand, and stretched out the other hand naturally, letting the silver-haired maid clean the wound on his index finger, which was accidentally poked while tossing the sand table in the morning.
He stared at the vertical characters on the page and asked casually.
"Live...get used to it."
Wei Lai's elegance was a bit unfamiliar. She lowered her little head and carefully looked at the wound on Ouyang Rong's right middle finger with a pair of foggy gray eyes. She wiped it carefully with a hot towel. Next to it was a hot water plate and untied blood-stained gauze.
"It is a slave's luck to live with his master." The silver-haired maid murmured.
It had been two days since she arrived at Meiluyuan. Although Mrs. Zhen complained that she didn't like it, she still acquiesced and asked the senior maids, who were waiting for seniority, to take the silver-haired maid and teach her how to be a personal maid to serve the master.
After all, it is something Tanlang likes. Besides, every time he asked the silver-haired maid to call someone back for dinner at meal time, he would not hesitate and come back to eat...
What else can Mrs. Zhen say? She naturally understands what her nephew wants to express.
"How many times have I told you not to shout like that...it's weird."
I don’t know if that’s what the barbarians call him like, but the silver-haired maid always calls him master habitually.
Ouyang Rong's face behind the scroll showed a look of helplessness, "You can call me Lang Jun or Young Master, or you can call me Tan Lang like my aunt."
The silver-haired maid pursed her lips and said nothing. She didn't know whether she heard him or not. Her face was focused on cleaning his finger wound.
Today she was wearing a well-proportioned light blue maid uniform, and her silver hair was tied into double temples with two red strings. It seemed that the technique was unfamiliar, and one of the temples was tied a little crookedly, but it made her look even more clumsy and cute.
"By the way, I've been busy lately. I leave early and come back late. If someone at home bullies you, you can tell me." Ouyang Rong did not forget his advice.
Wei Lai hesitated for a moment, swallowed the words and nodded her head.
Ouyang Rong put down the book, his eyes seemed a little tired, and turned to look at the silver-haired maid who was very close to him. The latter raised his head and glanced at his face, then buried his head again. Her ears seemed to be red, but she was not sure because she
The candlelight on the desk behind her illuminated the small white and crystal-clear ear bead in her temple hair, revealing some capillary-like orange-red color.
Ouyang Rong happened to see it and raised his hand, as if he wanted to squeeze it, but he pulled his hand back halfway.
Wei Lai, who always pays attention to her master, realizes it, but makes a mistake.
The silver-haired maid immediately tilted her head and raised her hand, pulling off the red rope that bound her temples, and her silver hair poured down like an avalanche.
Her hair is thick, and although it is silvery white, it is not dry. Instead, it is smooth and straight, with a young and healthy luster, like silver silk satin.
Wei Lai obediently rolled her waist-length silver hair in front of her left shoulder, and handed it to Ouyang Rong with a small face looking forward to pleasing her.
The master said that he liked her hair, even though everyone hated its color.
Ouyang Rong twitched the corner of his mouth, you little girl, how can you be so subjective?
He wanted to refuse, but he noticed the bright light on the silver-haired maid's little face, which seemed to be hopeful and happy... A certain gentleman coughed and touched the cold and silky silver hair on his hand.
Just touch it, it shouldn’t deduct merit.
Ouyang muttered in his heart. After touching it, a slight wooden fish sound immediately sounded in his ears, but his face was not dark, but his expression was slightly stunned.
It’s the crisp sound of wooden fish.
Merit does not decrease but increases.
"..."
Ouyang Rong couldn't help but look at Wei La, who was stroking her silver hair next to the bamboo chair with her blue eyes slightly narrowed and her little face filled with amazement.
Like a noble and pure white cat infatuated with the caress given by its owner.
Ouyang Rong was slightly startled, and couldn't help but twirling the bundle of silver hair that was covered with heat with his fingers. Good guy, this is not silver hair at all. This is clearly a small gift package of experience.
Don't you need to touch this more?
He laughed and rubbed the silver-haired maid's meek little head with his big hands. The latter also stretched her neck to nuzzle him stupidly.
The wound on the belly of his finger suddenly felt a slight pain. Ouyang Rong came back to his senses and looked around. The silver-haired maid seemed to be distracted and accidentally wiped the hot towel too hard. On the slightly red and swollen belly of his middle finger, spots of blood began to seep out.
"ah!"
Wei Lai was startled. She lowered her head and pouted in fear, her big eyes a little blurry.
"Master, you are a useless slave, and your hands and feet don't know the importance of it."
"It's okay, it's okay, I distracted you..."
Ouyang Rong looked very embarrassed, but before he finished his apology, he suddenly felt that the middle finger of his right hand was wrapped in a soft and soft ball, and the wound on the fingertip was given extra care by this soft ball.
"Uh-huh-huh."
Looking down, he saw that the little maid with disheveled silver hair was holding his right hand, burying her face with her head lowered, her pink lips pouting, and saying vaguely in her busy schedule:
"Master, when I was young, my slave was injured in the cage... This is how grandma treated the wound... It healed quickly."
After saying that, she looked up at Ouyang Rong with a look of gratitude, looking at Ouyang Rong brightly, as if hoping that he would be happy.
Ouyang Rong looked down and noticed that maybe because the food in Meiluyuan was good these days, Wei Lai's lips were no longer as pale and bloodless as before, but pink and fleshy.
"Silly girl."
He shook his head and sighed, retracting his fingers, ready to have a good chat with her... But at this moment.
"Brother!"
Xie Lingjiang's clear voice came from outside the house.
Both the master and the servant in the house were stunned. Ouyang Rong was the first to get up and go out. Wei Lai hurriedly went to get a piece of clothing, ran after him and put it on for him.
In the yard.
"Little junior sister, why are you here?" Ouyang Rong was curious.
"Didn't I say I would give you ice to compress the swelling? Here, take it."
The Xie girl who stood pretty on the spot handed out the box in her hand. She glanced at the petite maid with silver hair who followed her senior brother out of the house and smiled lightly:
"Hey, you must have already fallen into bed, right? That junior sister came at the wrong time and disturbed senior brother's dream."
"No, I'm talking about why you suddenly appeared here..."
Ouyang Rong ignored the joke behind him. He looked behind Xie Lingjiang and looked puzzled: "No one informed me, where are my aunt and the others."
"Oh, I'm not going through the main entrance." Xie Lingjiang pointed to the plum grove next to the yard, "I just tried it casually. I didn't expect that it can be accessed here. There is a path."
Ouyang Rong was speechless. Good guy, junior sister, I'm going to check Gang Road, right?
Complaints were complaints, and he had no guilty conscience. Ouyang Rong invited Xie Lingjiang into the study to sit down.
With a strange girl around, Wei Lai became a lot more reserved. She quickly tied up her long silver hair and ran to move a stool to pour water, busying around.
"Normally no one comes here, so please don't blame me if you don't entertain me well."
In the study, Ouyang Rong personally started the stove to boil water, cleaned the tea sets, and prepared tea.
Xie Lingjiang didn't reply. He looked at him for a while, then turned to look at the silver-haired girl who was clumsily moving a stool in the living room not far away.
Due to a county order, the study and bedrooms were empty and deserted.
Her face looked a little moved:
"Senior brother, have you never considered your personal pleasures?"
"What's the meaning."
Ouyang Rong looked calm and lowered his head to make tea.
Xie Lingjiang looked at the young county magistrate in front of him who was doing everything himself, and all he wanted to say finally turned into one sentence:
"Senior brother is more frugal and simple than my father."
Ouyang Rong was slightly startled. He was not stupid, so he probably understood the meaning of the junior sister's expression. He looked around, but he didn't know whether to laugh or cry:
"Didn't I already have a personal maid? I'm just a grown man living here, and having a maid to help me isn't enough?"
Moreover, she is also a delicate and eye-catching white-haired lolita, who is well-behaved and sensible to serve him... Ouyang Rong thought, if he had been in his previous life, he would have been hung up as a street lamp.
"Senior brother is really..."
Xie Lingjiang looked away from a certain silver-haired maid who did not suit her aesthetics, paused in her words, and shook her head slightly.
In the Su Mansion next door, even if the current situation is extremely poor, the Su family's uncles and aunts, the elder brother and the younger sister, etc., still have at least seven or eight maids and servants waiting in the room; even the guest room that Cai Shou had just arranged for Ying Niang was equipped with two
a maid;
As for her father, even though he was well-known for his honesty and simplicity in the literary circles of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he was surrounded by several old servants. Even Xie Lingjiang suspected that there were more servants in Yan Liulang's house than his senior brother, not to mention the white-haired man whom the senior brother chose.
Barbarian girl...
I don’t know whether she is serving her senior brother or he is serving her. Even the senior brother is not familiar with the tea art.
A certain noble lady of the Xie family looked at Ouyang Rong, who had a contented face, with somewhat complicated eyes.
Later, the topic between the two of them turned to the affairs of the county government tomorrow.
In the distance, the petite maid with silver hair and blue eyes stood silently behind the curtain and looked at the confident, handsome Madam Lang in the study, and the noble girl with black hair and lacquered eyes who talked eloquently.
A look of inferiority and envy flashed across her fair face... This is the woman who is worthy of her master.
…
It was already dark, so Xie Lingjiang didn't stay too long. He drank a cup of hot tea poured by his senior brother and left with satisfaction.
Ouyang Rong could tell that his junior sister seemed to have something happy today, and the sex was good, but she didn't say anything and he didn't ask any more questions.
After seeing off his junior sister, he casually touched the little head of the silver-haired maid who seemed a little silent, and then went back to his room to rest early.
A night of silence.
Ouyang Rong got up very early today, and it was just getting dark outside the window. He finished washing and went out quietly, leaving only the little silver-haired maid sitting up stupidly holding the quilt, rubbing her sleepy eyes and feeling confused alone...
After Ouyang Rong and Yan Liulang met, they went to the West Market to have a bowl of fragrant noodle soup. Liulang, who was late, punished himself for the treat.
The two then personally led the government officials and clerks to count the grains sold to the county government by sixteen grain merchants at the dock. In the morning, grains from more than a dozen other rural gentry were also delivered one after another. By noon, the three hundred thousand dan
Finally, all the grain was escorted to the charity warehouse of Longcheng County Government.
By the time Ouyang Rong and Yan Liulang returned to the county government office, Xie Lingjiang and others had been waiting at the gate for a long time.
"Everyone is here?"
Ouyang Rong took the tea cup brought by his junior sister, took a big sip, and asked without looking back.
"We have all arrived early. Many of the grain merchants and squires who sold grain yesterday have been invited. Now they are all drinking tea in the side hall, waiting for senior brother."
Xie Ling Jiang confidently said.
"What about the sand table?"
"It has been moved to the lobby."
"You can take them over. I'll change into my official uniform and come."
Ouyang Rong smiled and said to Xie Lingjiang that today's matter was quite important and he had to dress more formally.
"Okay." Xie Lingjiang went to pick him up.
Ouyang Rong ordered again: "Liu Lang, guard the county government hall. Don't let anyone leave early without my permission later."
"Yes, Mingfu." Yan Liulang took the order and left.
Not long after, Ouyang Rong changed into a light green patterned silk official uniform in the back hall, opened the door and walked into the crowded and noisy county government lobby.
The county government hall that was rebuilt after the flood was originally very spacious, so every gathering was not crowded.
Today's "crowdiness" is because a huge artificial sand table suddenly appeared in the center of the lobby - on this sand table, there are mounds of soil simulating mountains, and there are also water flows simulating rivers, simulating certain terrains and terrains so lifelike and clearly visible.
As for the "noisy", it comes from Wang Caozhi, Shopkeeper Ma, Shopkeeper Li and other grain merchants and gentry gathered around the huge sand table...
They had just entered the lobby not long ago. At this moment, they were all staring in surprise, pointing at the strange object in the center of the lobby, and whispering to each other.
Looking at their wonderful expressions, compared to the strangeness of this huge sand table, what surprised them more was the hidden content and ambition of this sand table.
Xie Ling Jiang Zheng on the side crossed his arms and smiled, watching everyone's reactions with interest.
But she had forgotten that her expression when she saw the sand table for the first time and listened to her senior brother's explanation was no different from that of the grain merchants and squires now.
"Senior brother."
"Your Majesty the County Magistrate."
When they saw the rightful owner entering the door, everyone saluted and then stared at each other. After a short period of silence, they were all chattering with questions.
Wang Caozhi first asked: "Your Excellency, the county magistrate, the demonstration above...could it be Butterfly Creek?"
"Brother Cao has good eyesight." Ouyang Rong smiled.
"But why is it different from what I remember?" Wang Caozhi scratched his head and laughed.
"That's why it's called New Construction." The young county magistrate nodded, "We just want to make it the same."
These plain but domineering words made Wang Caozhi, Shopkeeper Ma, Shopkeeper Li and other grain merchants look at each other.
Compared with the grain merchants who were not familiar with the local grain merchants in Longcheng, the country squires such as Uncle Wu and Cheng Yuanwai were naturally able to understand more, almost at a glance.
Cheng Yuanwai smiled bitterly and pointed at the sand table: "Your Excellency, County Magistrate, is this serious?"
"It all depends on human effort." Ouyang Rong said softly.
Uncle Wu couldn't help but wonder, "How much money will this cost?"
Ouyang Rong smiled at everyone:
"The more you invest, the more you earn. You must know the business opportunities better than me."
Uncle Wu and Mr. Cheng were immediately speechless.
This new construction on the sand table in front of them made all the squires feel thirsty, and their bodies also became hot.
Wang Caozhi and other foreign grain merchants seemed to understand what they heard, and were eager to ask questions. However, Ouyang Rong was very considerate and asked Xie Lingjiang to fetch dozens of paper rolls that had been prepared. The grain merchants in the lobby
Share it with the squire.
Even if they had vaguely guessed it beforehand, many people still looked shocked after seeing the carefully planned new construction in their hands.
The lobby was quiet for a while.
Facing the crowd with complicated expressions, Ouyang Rong clapped his hands and said:
"One thing, I need to remind you warmly that the county government is not asking you to join. Longcheng County government currently has 300,000 shi of food, and there are enough manpower inside and outside the city. Regardless of whether you join or not, during my term of office
It's inevitable! It doesn't matter whether it's fast or slow.
"And right now, the county government debt in your hands is the only admission ticket kindly gifted by the county government. The open window is only today. Everyone, I am very worried."
After saying that, Ouyang Rong said no more, sat back on the imperial chair at the top, and drank tea with his eyes lowered, leaving everyone in the hall alone facing the familiar yet unfamiliar Butterfly Creek sand table in front of them...
This time, I didn’t wait long. Perhaps because of yesterday’s experience, I had already been convinced by the scumbag county magistrate. This time, it was still the sixteen grain merchants who were the first to step forward, followed by Uncle Wu, and the other hesitant squires.
They also stepped forward...
Not long after, in the lobby, a young county magistrate who was too busy signing documents took time out and smiled at each other again with a female master.
But at this moment, a violent drum sound of "dong dong dong" suddenly came from outside the county government office!
The whole hall was shocked.
Someone is beating the drum!
Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang were stunned for a moment, especially the former, who had never heard the drum sound even after taking office for so long, because if there was any case, he could just go to the Yamen to declare it. The drums of injustice were mostly just decorations, unless there were petty officials in the Yamen.
Prevent the case from being reported.
Ouyang Rong comforted everyone in the lobby and took Xie Lingjiang out. But as soon as they arrived at the gate of the county government office, they saw a frowning figure.
I saw Liu Zilin, who had not been seen for many days, leading a few followers and taking the lead in playing drums. The street behind him was full of ordinary people who were attracted to stop and watch the show.
Seeing Ouyang Rong come out, the third young man of the Liu family wore a very weak smile:
"The county magistrate finally took some time out of his busy schedule. This time, you must uphold justice for the grassroots!"
Ouyang Rong nodded calmly, "Is your leg healed?"
"..." Liu Zilin's smile remained unchanged: "Does the magistrate care about legs, or does he care about justice?"
"Master Liu still needs me to uphold justice?"
"Isn't this young man a citizen of Dragon City? Aren't my parents the ones who uphold justice for the people of Dragon City?"
"Yes, but you can't beat the drum randomly. If you are found to be messing around, you will be beheaded."
"No, no, no, I didn't knock indiscriminately, I definitely didn't knock indiscriminately. Now that the common people have died unjustly, they are just waiting for Master Qingtian to redress their grievances!"
"What injustice? Come on, tell me." Ouyang Rong narrowed his eyes.
The third young man of the Liu family looked at each other with their hands behind their backs and the young county magistrate for a while. Suddenly, in front of everyone in the room, he stabbed the magistrate with his index finger... the girl dressed in men's clothing behind him:
"The common people want to sue your master!"
Inside and outside the county government office, there was complete silence.
Xie Lingjiang was stunned in place.
Ouyang Rong didn't look back, silently staring at Liu Zilin with his teeth exposed.